Taylorian 2020

51 MTS Public Speaking Public Speaking continues to go from strength to strength at MTS. This year we moved the whole-school Public Speaking Competition from June to February (which turned out to be a very smart move). Every boy, from the Thirds to the Divs, prepared a speech and delivered it to their class in an English lesson. Class winners went through to the semi-finals, where Mrs Shockley managed to narrow the field to an excellent selection of finalists. The final was held on the 10th February when OMT and star of University Challenge and MTS Herrick Society, Cameron Yule, had the unenviable task of choosing the winners. Jacob Rose was awarded Runner Up in the Thirds and Upper Thirds category and Cormac Allen took away first prize. In the intermediate category, Gajaanan Jeevananthan’s dynamic delivery won him Runner Up, whilst Archie Stewart’s erudite style bagged the first prize. Alongside this, last year’s in-house winners, Ed Bennett, Ethan Williams and Ikenna Oke, prepared to compete in inter-school competitions. Unfortunately, lockdown put pay to The Worshipful Company of Educators’ competition, which is now due to beheld in theAutumn term.However,wedid manage to compete in the English Speaking Union Public Speaking Competition on the 8th February. Standards were very high, and we won plaudits from the judges, but we didn’t win this year. We look forward to next year’s competition, when we can welcome some of this year’s MTS Public Speaking Competition winners into the fray and form two formidable teams. Mrs K Shockley Shadowing the Carnegie Incollaborationwithourwonderfullibrarian, Mrs South, the English Department has continued to shadow the Carnegie shortlist this year. This prestigious children’s book award is at the heart of a national reading for pleasure drive and students are exposed to a range of the very highest quality of children’s writing. Past winners of the award include: Arthur Ransome, C.S. Lewis, Terry Pratchett, Philip Pullman, Noel Streatfeild, Sally Gardner, and Elizabeth Acevedo. We have been reading one book per fortnight and meeting via Teams every other Thursday lunchtime to discuss the reading. Students are also encouraged to submit their own reviews of the books which are published on the official Carnegie website, and Krishan Lakhani has kick-started representation for Merchant Taylors’ this year with his review of Lark byAnthonyMcGowan. Our students also have access to educational resources which complement the shortlist and help to stretch and challenge our boys. The final session of this club will end with a vote for our favourite book, which we will submit to Carnegie for their consideration of the Shadowers’ Choice Award. Many books on the shortlist are available in digital format through Oliver, and any student in the lower school is very welcome to join; please contact either Mrs South or Miss Fitzpatrick for further details. Miss M J Fitzpatrick The Merchants’ Tale The Merchants’ Tale pupil-led magazine provides an opportunity for pupils to write the stories they want to share and which they are genuinely passionate about that they would not be able to do in any of the school’s other publications. This academic year saw the publication of our very first issue, covering topics ranging from sport through to creative writing. Our next issue is set to be just as readable, with sixth-former Theo Berenzweig sharing his personal anecdotes as a light aircraft pilot (including some scary near-misses). Any pupil can get involved with the magazine: all they need to do is contact Mr Robinson or come to EN32 on a Friday week Aat 1:50.  Mr D G Robinson The Dependent Lockdown may have denied us two Dependents this year. One, spearheaded by Oliver Lavelle without any teacher interaction whatsoever but bearing the Dependent name, may have seen thismaster- in-charge and editor-in-chief going into hiding let alone quarantine. If he manages to acquire these scandalous files, he will cast his editorial eye over them and release them in September. The other was to be the first Dependent written by the very impressive 5th form Codependent team. Over the past two years the Codependent has become the school’s foremost satirical publication, if only because it has gone to print on more than no occasions. It has tackled some of the school’s big issues. It has: uncovered a School Choir mafia dubbed the Taylors’ Sopranos; conducted a panorama investigation into the boys’ locker rooms; and of course covered the long and ongoing saga of Blexit (the school’s decision to leave the Blue Note system). We look forward to September to see what both publications make of the current situation. I expect they will have a few things to say. Mr J DManley