Catenian Public Speaking Competition 2024

Our Y6 Public Speaking team took part in the Catenian's Public Speaking Competition alongside the other schools in the DCET to compete for the "Allan Paver" trophy. Their presentation was all about the Catholic Social Teaching principle of Stewardship. 

They did a fantastic job and we are so proud of them and the way they represented St Joseph's.

The DCET has signed up to the Sustainable Schools Network to support our Trust in working with the children in addressing environmental issues in our schools.

An Eco Group has been set up withinin each school and they have completed an audit to use as the basis for their action plan. At St Joseph's our Eco Group has decided to focus on environmentally friendly ways to travel to school and they are planning to complete an survey to see how most families travel to and from school!

"We talked to the school in assembly about "Walking Wednesdays" and we are encouraging people to think about the environment and see if they can walk or scoot to school on a Wednesday. We are out in the playground when people arrive and mark down which children in each class have done this and then this class get an award. We are trying to get people to think about how they can help the environment" - Anya and Bella (School Council) 

A team of our year 6 pupils took part in the DCET Catenian public speaking competition on Friday 24th February against the other schools in the trust. They were an absolute credit to our school and were the overall competition winners with their speech on Catholic social teaching: the common good! A huge congratulations to them all!

Gracie said - "I am really proud of our school team for winning the trophy - it's helped me to be more confident when speaking in front of others and I've learnt a lot about Catholic Social Teaching". 

Emily said - "I was so nervous sitting and waiting to perform our speech but feel so happy that we have won"

Ben said - "It took a lot of work to prepare our speech and it was really good to listen to the others schools and learn from them about other aspects of Catholic Social Teaching"

West Somerset Circle of the Catenian Association is pleased to continue sponsorship of the Public Speaking Contest within the Dunstan Catholic Educational Trust (DCET). In previous years we have supported photographic, art, and poetry competitions. One of the aims of the sponsorship is to advance the interests and development of young Catholics and to assist them in their choice or pursuit of a career. The Public Speaking Contest, held for the first time in 2022, assists personal development in their education and preparation for working life by giving them the confidence to communicate and perform in a competitive atmosphere. This interaction complements the DCET’s development of oracy, a mix of linguistic skills, listening, speaking and numeracy. Last year’s contest was a great success and the standard reached was remarkable for such young pupils. The enthusiasm from all the participants was both noticeable and infectious. The judges complemented all the teams for the strength of their argument, references to passages from the bible, good use of statistics and confidence so evidently displayed. It is my pleasure to welcome the teams participating in the final in 2023 for the Allan Paver Trophy, named after a much loved and respected member of West Somerset Catenians, both for his support for this project and for the work he did for the schools as Chair of Governors. I have no doubt it will be as competitive as last year with healthy rivalry between pupils from all the schools in a demonstrably friendly atmosphere. A warm welcome to you all. Enjoy the companionship and friendship and you will create memories to last a lifetime. Michael Keenan, President- West Somerset Circle