HELENA Romanes School were involved in the forth round of the national Public Speaking Competition on Tuesday February 29 at Bishop Stortford College s Ferguson Hall. The Dunmow secondary school had seen off Felsted in the previous round when both the int

HELENA Romanes School were involved in the forth round of the national Public Speaking Competition on Tuesday February 29 at Bishop Stortford College's Ferguson Hall.

The Dunmow secondary school had seen off Felsted in the previous round when both the intermediate team (aged 11-13) and the senior team (aged 14-17) were victorious in the third round at Foakes Hall last year.

The competition is designed to encourage pupils in teams of three to put together a presentation and speak for six minutes on a topic of their choice after which questions are invited from the audience and performances are judged by an independent panel.

Round four pitched the Helena Romanes against Bishop's Stortford High School and in a close-fought contest home advantage made the difference as Bishop's Stortford came out winners.

Having said that both teams put up a tremendous effort said Dunmow Rotary President David Edwards.

He added: "All the teams gave excellent performances and the speakers were very passionate about the subjects they spoke about.