A First for Knutsford

On the 11th February 2025 there was a first for Knutsford when Knutsford Rotary and Knutsford Academy hosted one of the 12 regional heats of the Rotary Youth Speaks Programme.

The Youth Speaks Programme is a public speaking competition and is one of several competitions organised by Rotary for young people.  Competing teams from schools and youth organisations consist of three members, a Chairperson, a Speaker and a Proposer for the vote of thanks.  Expert judges score each team on the performance of each member and the team as a whole.

This year 90 schools from the North West are participating in the competition and in Knutsford 8 teams from 4 schools competed, 4 in the Intermediate class (years 8 and 9) and 4 in the Senior Class (years 10, 11 and 12).  Knutsford Academy was represented by 3 Teams, there were 2 Teams from Didsbury High School and  Weaverham High School, and one team from The County High School Leftwich.

Knutsford Academy was the proud winner of the Senior Competition with a strong presentation on ‘Misconceptions of feminism’ and Didsbury High School won the Intermediate Competition with a thought-provoking presentation on ‘The ageing population - a different perspective’. Runners Up in the Senior Competition were Weaverham High School and in the Intermediate Competition, Knutsford Academy.

It was inspiring to see these young people having the confidence to present on stage and to be able to articulate their views with such clarity on really interesting and challenging topics.

Knutsford Rotary would like to thank all the students who participated, they were amazing. We would also like to thank Knutsford Academy for hosting our Heat and in particular, Miss Molly Page (Teacher of English and Media Studies) who not only sponsored the Knutsford Academy teams but worked with us to ensure this Heat was a huge success. 

A strong team of Rotary members and supporters took on the roles of judges, questioners, timekeepers and MC for the evening - each played a vital role in making this heat run like clockwork.