The annual Wellington Literacy Cluster public speaking competition Look Who’s Talking was held at West Buckland Primary School before schools closed because of the coronavirus outbreak.

The competition involves primary school aged children performing a learnt poem and delivering a four-minute presentation entitled My Future, before answering questions posed by the judging panel. The judges were Anne Harvey from the Somerset Literacy Network; Meg Cleal, a children’s bookseller at Waterstone’s, Taunton; Court Fields Secondary School acting head teacher Polly Matthews; and Court Fields head girl Charlotte.

The seven participating schools – St John’s, Rockwell Green, Wellesley Park, Sampford Arundel, Langford Budville, Beech Grove and West Buckland – all provided two contestants – a child from Year 3 and 4 and a child from Year 5 and 6.

The competition opened with the children wowing the audience with their poetry recitals before giving a varied selection of presentations on both their futures and the people who have inspired their future lives.

After much deliberation from the judges, Olly from West Buckland Primary School, scooped both the Year 3 and 4 trophy and the overall prize. This is only the second time in the five years the competition has been running that a child from the younger age category has been crowned the overall winner. The other winner on the evening was Willow from Langford Budville Primary School who took home the Year 5 and 6 trophy.

Competition organiser Steven Bate said: “Once again, the standard of public speaking from our young pupils in the Wellington area was incredibly high and all of the finalists should be proud of their achievements.”