King's Lodge School proved victorious in a public speaking competition extended to junior schools in Chippenham.

Chippenham’s Rotary Club has run a Youth Speaks competition for secondary school students for years, nurturing speaking and presentation skills.

But this year they allowed 10 to 11-year-olds to have a go for the first time, and the organisers said the youngsters rose to the challenge.

Rick Squires, publicity officer for the Rotary Club of Chippenham, said: “The Rotary club’s faith that the schools had the required skills was vindicated, as there was a very high standard of public speaking amongst all the participants.

“Some were even at the level expected from students attending senior schools.”

The winning team, made up of chairman Archie Pierce, speaker Joel Shaw and Hannah Burton, proposer of the vote of thanks, impressed the judges with their speech on individuality, which was said to be “exceptionally well researched and presented”.

As well as individual awards, the King’s Lodge team was presented with the Kirby Cup, named after the first woman president of the Rotary club Jane Kirby, who died last year.

Monkton Park School was runners up with the entertaining topic of a sporting guilty pleasure, relating to darts.

The school was represented by chairman Rowan Fairclough, speaker Eddie Slee and proposer Amy Fuller.

Other schools taking part were Charter and St Pauls, with the topics of education and the proposed development next to Birds Marsh.