They were asked to put their persuasive writing skills and theory into practice by encouraging their listeners to reduce their single-use plastic use and make positive changes for the environment.
Ruby Coyde and Ramsay Ismail were the year five and six winners respectively, while finalists Belle Jones, Lauren Vickery, Zach Maiden, Amie Miller, Max Patterson and Philip Du Plessis were all highly commended for their speeches and made the judges’ decision a very difficult one.
Pictured: Ramsay and Ruby with guest judge Claire Heaume in the centre.
Butterfield Marketing and Communications Manager Claire Heaume was the competition’s guest judge and presented the winners with their very own Junior Ocean Advocate Packs.
“I was amazed by all the work on show today and how well informed the children were on the impact of single use plastic,” she said.
“All the finalists were fantastic, which made our decision even tougher. They were very engaging to watch on stage and certainly made me think about where I can make changes to reduce my use of plastic.”
Pictured: Ruby Coyde was the winner of the year five speech writing competition.
Amy Watt, Key Stage 2 Department Leader at Forest Primary School, said the children had enjoyed the speech writing assignment.
“We are really pleased with how the children engaged with the competition and so proud of them. We are very grateful to Butterfield for coming to judge the competition and providing the prizes. It gave the children that extra sense of occasion and significance.”
In February, Butterfield launched the Junior Ocean Advocate project in collaboration with the ‘Plastic Free’ communities of Guernsey, Jersey and Alderney. Every primary school across the islands received a Junior Ocean Advocate pack with resources including books and Darla the Dolphin, with the objective of helping schools teach children about marine pollution and encourage them to protect their local marine environments.
Pictured top: Year six winner Ramsay Ismail delivering his speech.