Iain heads to parliament

BVC student Iain Lynn’s passion for public speaking has taken him all the way to parliament.

16-year-old Iain was invited to address MPs at a special cross-party meeting to promote the importance of teaching oracy skills in school.

The Speaking Up event was chaired by MP Emma Hardy and attracted a wide audience of MPs, education leaders, communications specialists and Children’s Minister Nadim Zahawi.

Iain was asked to attend as the English-Speaking Union’s representative and was praised for his speech which highlighted the inequality oracy skills are given in many schools.

A keen debater and public speaker, Iain has won a number of competitions and is now an alumni mentor for ESU events. His #100Reasons Twitter campaign* is currently running to celebrate the centenary of the ESU.

He said: “I only started public speaking a couple of years ago but I have been so lucky to have the support of great teachers at BVC and now the ESU.

“To me, being able to speak up is as important a life skill as being able to do Maths – and yet it’s not a compulsory part of our education. That needs to change and hopefully the Speaking Up campaign will help do that.

“Everyone needs to be able to speak up for themselves, whether it’s in a board meeting or giving your order at MacDonalds.

“Being invited to parliament was an amazing experience. I plan to study Politics at Alevel next year so being able to participate in a cross-party discussion was invaluable.”

Iain will continue to represent the voice of UK young people as part of the committee formed by Emma HardyMP to move the Speaking Up campaign forward.

*Iain has set himself the task of posting 100 tweets about oracy to celebrate the centenary of the ESU – follow @_iainlynn on Twitter to see what he has to say.