Oracy competition for primary school children

Talking History is now into its second year and gathering speed. Following the pattern of The Great Debate but adapted for Years 5 and 6 the competition seeks to encourage young people’s history and oracy skills through a public presentation. Schools are encouraged to enter their pupils into the online heats, from which winners will be put forward to the final. 

The young people need to speak for no more than five minutes on a set question or title and then be able to answer a question on their subject. 

For 2025 the participants talked about ‘My favourite local history place’. As the entrants to the competition were from across the country, so were the fascinating places that they talked about. The 16 finalists’ topics included: 

• Royal Arsenal, Woolwich
• Elizabeth Castle, Jersey
• Shrewsbury Battlefield
• St Mary's Church, Islington 
• Sheen Gate, Richmond
• Walsall Town Hall
• Blackburn Town Hall
• Dartford Priory 
• Tardebigge locks, Birmingham 
• Alan Turing mural, Manchester 
• London Museum of Water and Steam.

The judges for the online final were all deeply impressed by the level of research the young people had done and their enthusiasm for their selected places, as well as the range of places they had chosen to talk about. The standard across the finalists was high, requiring some strong negotiation to reach the winners, who were:

Winner: 

• Dhruv Patel – King’s College Junior School (Sheen Gate, Richmond)

Runners up:

• Elizabeth Starkey – St Catherine’s RC Primary School (Alan Turing mural, Manchester) 
• Olivia Gilroy – Trinity School (Elizabeth Castle) 

Highly commended: 

• Jeremy Okorneo – River Mill Primary School (Dartford Priory)  

Judges

The judging panel were:

• Helen Crawford – teacher and teacher trainer
• Barbara Henderson – author
• Ally Sherrick – author

Look out for details of the 2026 competition.