On Tuesday evening we had 18 students from Year 5 and 6 step up and participate in the A B Paterson public speaking competition. This is a competition that saw over 330 students compete from both the public and private sector. It's a competition that is renowned for its calibre and showcases some of the most outstanding speakers from schools all over the Gold Coast. Coomera Rivers uses this as a platform to further extend our school's mySpeak program and it's open to any student who is willing to give it a go.

Our students did an amazing job in delivering their speeches that varied greatly from one speech to the next even though there were many students talking about the same topic. While some were very thought-provoking and had the audience learning something new about themselves or the world, others were quite comical and entertaining. However, it takes more than a great speech to get through to the preliminary finals. It also takes a whole heap of confidence, conviction and passion. Our students didn't disappoint.

Like in any competition, not everyone will move on to the next level however we were extremely proud to have 5 students win their heat and go on to compete in the preliminary finals which will be held next week. Congratulations to the following students who will head back to A B Paterson College next week:

Year 5 - Ruby (5K)
Year 6 - Kilarney (6F), Isabella W (6L), Isabella L (6M) and Imogen (6W)

All students are to be congratulated for their courage and hard work in preparing for such a prestigious competition. There's certainly a buzz of excitement and feeling of accomplishment after the event, regardless of who makes it through or not. We look forward to seeing them participate next year.

Congratulations to the following students for representing our school so well:

Year 5: Oliver (5R), Christian (5R), Porshe (5M), Hannah (5S), Tiana (5S), Abbey (5S), Ava (5S) and Kai (5S)
Year 6: Georgina (6I), Eden (6L), Maddison (6L),Haylie (6M) and Tawhiri (6M)

Good luck to our students next week as they take on the preliminary finals.