An Evening of Insight and Expression at the Junior McEachran

Following on from the huge success of the Senior McEachran competition last month, we gathered in the library again on Tuesday evening to listen to the Junior competitors reciting their chosen spells and giving their speeches. 

Fourteen students from the 3^rd and 4^th Form volunteered to take part, selecting their spells with careful consideration.  In a break with tradition, the judges came from our 6^th Form,  with Giulia C (U6, G) – who recently won the senior prize – and Alanood A (U6, MSH), herself an erstwhile supporter of McEachran, selecting the successful juniors. 

A very carefully constructed and well thought through talk by Isaac G (4, R) started the evening off, with his response to the spell, “A person who thinks all the time has nothing to think about but thoughts.”  Other spells were taken from a broad range of sources, including Shakespeare, John Lennon and Olivia Roderigo, as well as Daphne du Maurier, Muriel Strode and Stephen Chbosky.  The standard of all the talks was consistently high, making a decision difficult, but the judges were unanimous in their selection of Indigo (3, EDH) as their winner.  Indigo offered a complex and engaging meditation inspired by the well known phrase, “When life gives you lemons, make lemonade.”  Highly commended was Monty P (4, SH) with a talk inspired by Pippa Goodhart’s book, “You choose.”  In their closing remarks, Alanood and Guilia commented on a common theme of many of the talks: the importance of being true to oneself and the value of kindness. 

Congratulations to Indigo and Monty in particular, but all the participants should feel a sense of pride and satisfaction in their commendable effort and performances.  Well done, all!

Mrs Kristina Leslie, Head of English