As the clocks move forward and Spring is in the
air, I welcome you to my first post of 2017. Last week was a particularly
exciting week for a pupil in one of the schools I work in. Jesse was invited to
London as one of the finalists for Voice Box. He was delighted to be able to
attend with his Mum and older sister to tell his joke in Speaker’s House at the
Houses of Parliament.
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| Houses of Parliament before we went inside |
Upon arrival at Portcullis House we passed through
security and were greeted by a buzz of enthusiasm and excitement in the room. I’d
tweeted a photo of Jesse travelling to London on the train, which had
subsequently been re-tweeted by the Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists (RCSLT). Not long after we arrived a number of
members of RCSLT staff came to say hello and told him they recognised him from
Twitter, which really made his day.
At 12.30pm we were all greeted and shown to
Speaker’s House, which involved a walk under the road and up a rather grand
flight of stairs. At the top of the stairs we were given a name badge and
informed that lunch was served. This allowed a nice opportunity to enjoy the
surroundings and mingle with the other
guests.
It was clear to see how excited everyone was though
I’m sure there were lots of nervous butterflies fluttering around in tummies
too. During lunch, there was a magician providing entertainment for the guests
and was particularly popular with the children.
After lunch, we were called through to the main
room ready for the children to tell their jokes. Nick Smith, MP for Blaenau Gwent, was Master of
Ceremonies and he did a great job of keeping the day moving along. He welcomed
each of the judging panel and it was lovely to see last year’s winner TJ was
back to help choose the winning joke. Read more here about when he won last
year. TJ told us his joke at the beginning of the day and then each of the
other judges told a joke too.
All of the children were brilliant with a very high
standard of jokes (the judges had a tough decision to make!) There were a range
of jokes from children from around the country and it was great to see some MPs
get up there with their constituents to tell a joke of their own.
Once all the children had told their jokes we had a
refreshment break while the judges made the important decision about the winner
and runners-up jokes! We had the opportunity to chat with Ian Lavery, MP who
came along to support Jesse.
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| Jesse and Ian Lavery, MP for Wansbeck Photo Credit: Geoff Wilson |
All of the children were presented with a goody bag
and framed certificate and Kamini Gadhok, CEO of RCSLT congratulated everyone
on reaching the final. Once all of the children received their goody bags the
runners up and winner were announced. It
was a brilliant day and a fantastic opportunity for the children! To read Sam’s
winning joke visit RCSLT’s Giving Voice website here.
On Friday morning, I received a telephone call from
RCSLT informing me that BBC Radio Newcastle wanted to interview Jesse about his
experience at Voice Box. Jesse was extremely excited about this opportunity and
I went to his school on Friday afternoon so that the interview could be
recorded via telephone. We both chatted to the presenter Jon and the interview
went out on the Drive Time show on Friday evening. If you’d like to listen to
the interview you can find it here (from 54:09) – it’s only available until
Friday (07/04/17).
It’s been great to see lots of activity on Twitter,
including tweets from RCSLT, BBC Radio Newcastle and Ian Lavery, MP. More photos from the day can be found on the
RCSLT Instagram and Twitter.
It was a brilliant day in London and it was lovely
to hear Jesse say that the competition has led to him making more friends. We
all thoroughly enjoyed the competition back in the Autumn term (read about it
here) and Jesse getting to the final is fantastic.
I received lots of positive feedback about how much
the children and teachers enjoyed Voice Box and we are all looking forward to
taking part again. It’s a brilliant opportunity to celebrate language and how
fun it can be!
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| Jesse's Mum, me, Jesse and his sister at Speaker's House Photo Credit: Geoff Wilson |
