On Wednesday 30 July 2025, the Doncaster and Bulleen Primary Schools Speech Competition was held in the hall at Beverley Hills Primary School in Doncaster East. The six schools that participated were:
- Beverley Hills Primary School; Birralee Primary School; Donburn Primary School; Doncaster Primary School; St Clement of Rome Primary School; and St Gregory the Great Primary School.
The room was packed full of children, parents and extended families, Rotarians and the participants. Brian Tyedin did an amazing job as Master of Ceremonies and the event was supported by Marlene Sinclair from Toastmasters and judged by three judges also from Toastmasters.
Those present were: Mayor of Manningham, Cr Dierdre Diamante: Cr. Anna Chen; and the Hon Matthew Guy, MP. Distinguished Rotarians included: DG Peter Behm; DGE Emma Clarke; Community Group Leader Trish Carr and her husband; and Rotary Manningham Club Presidents Esther Murray and Anthony Callinan as well as a good number of Rotarians from our club. The very experienced club time keepers were: Graham Kane and Rod Simkiss with club member Dan Hession assisting on the stage.
Also present was Ian Goldsmith, Chairman of Bendigo Bank Doncaster East and Templestowe Village, who provided the participation prizes for all the children, and the Prizes for first, second and third places. In addition, Wendy Samantha Productions a drama school offered a term’s worth of training valued at $400 and the winner was assessed by Mayor Dierdre Diamante. Finally, Generations Dental contributed towards the shield and supper.
Each child is provided with a hands-free microphone and heads to the stage in turn. They look like any school child until they start their speech – then they become the centre of the room with everyone hanging on every word. The standards just keep improving each year and no-one in the room envied the judges!!!
The children could choose their topic from a long list and the ones chosen included:
‘What is more important – Intelligence or curiosity’; ‘If I had three wishes; ‘The person who influenced my life the most’; ‘The wonders of underwater life’; ‘The best day of my life’; ‘The superpower I would like to have is ….’;’ If I could change the world’, ‘If I had three wishes’; ’If I could travel anywhere’.
Some students selected the same topic but put their own spin on it. The speaking standards amongst the year 5 and 6 students was just extraordinary and there were some very proud parents in the room. Some of the subjects we heard about were: genies in a bottle; global poverty; wars; animal extinctions; puppies; eco systems; climate change; teleporting; Albert Einstein; that you cannot ‘force’ change in the world; travelling to Japan; inequality; racism; and emotional intelligence! Remembering that these are years 5 and 6 primary school students!
Every child received a Certificate of Participation and a Bendigo Bank $50 voucher. Then the judges went out to make their decisions. Marlene Sinclair provided feedback to each child and they the judges were ready.
- Zachary Wong from Birralee Primary School was FIRST PLACE “If I could change the world” and received a $300 Bendigo Bank voucher.
- Rose Abbey from Donburn Primary School was SECOND PLACE “What is more important – Intelligence or Curiosity”, and received a $200 Bendigo Bank voucher.
- Tanvi Vangala from Beverley Hills Primary School was THIRD PLACE “If I had three wishes”, and received a $100 Bendigo Bank voucher.
- Tanvi Vangala from Beverley Hills Primary School won the Wendy Samantha Productions Prize which was $400 worth of acting training for one term.
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Of course, everyone really won as each child had an experience of a life time that will stand them in good stead for the future.
This was a great event enjoyed by everyone
