Celebrating success at Speech Day

Durham High School’s Speech Day is one of the key events in the calendar honouring the successes and hard work of students and featuring inspirational leaders.

This year’s Speech Day, which was held at the Glow Venue, in Newton Aycliffe, on 12 September, saw a wonderful talk from Steph Edusei, Chief Executive of St Oswald’s Hospice, in Newcastle, and a Director of the North East Chamber of Commerce.

Steph is deeply integrated in her local community and is the founder of the Black All Year podcast. She uses her platform to showcase black voices, highlight challenges and celebrate, recognise, support, educate and campaign all year round. In 2022, she was named Transformational Leader at the Northern Power Women Awards.

Steph delivered an inspiring and moving speech focused on her experiences growing up with a Ghanaian father and a Geordie mother. She spoke about being in a predominantly white community and feeling different and as though she was an imposter throughout her early adulthood. Her themes of prejudice and personal challenges were addressed honestly and with sensitivity, creating a safe environment for the pupils to listen and respond.

Alongside Steph, the school was delighted to welcome an esteemed group of guests, including His Majesty’s Lord Lieutenant of County Durham, Mrs Sue Snowdon, the High Sheriff of the Palatine of County Durham, Mr Harry Swan, the Right Worshipful Mayor of County Durham, Councillor Liz Brown along with her Consort and the Vice Chairman of Durham County Council, Patricia Jopling along with her consort. School Governors, former Headmistresses, PSCOs, Rotary representatives and Old Girls also attended.

Proud Headmistress, Michelle Hill, centred her opening speech on the many accomplishments of her students across the year and the 140th anniversary of the school.

Said Michelle: “Celebrating success is an important part of Durham High life, championing each other and being proud of our achievements, both staff and girls. While academia is always high on our agenda, we pride ourselves on the holistic education we offer for our pupils. On behalf of our whole school community, I would like to congratulate all the students and staff for their hard work and commitment. We are extremely proud of you all.”

A few of the students were inspired to write their own speeches, including:

The girls spoke about a range of achievements and events at Durham High over the previous year. These included, the Science Sparks Outreach Programme, the Classics Department residential to Greece, Diversity and Inclusion Week, The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award, Future Business Magnates Competition, the work of our Interact Charities team, The Poetry Live trip to York, the Cross Curricular Project, focusing on 140 Years of Durham High School, Lakeside outdoor residential and our Mock General Election. The Music and Drama Department’s ambitious and highly successful production of Evita at the Gala Theatre was also spoken about and Issy Hall, Year 8, performed two monologues from her recent LAMDA examinations.

Michelle added: “Speech Day was a day of immense joy and celebration, as we honour not just the individual successes of our students who spoke at the ceremony but the collective achievements of our entire school community. We stand in awe of our students’ accomplishments. Their dedication and resilience continue to inspire us all and being able to celebrate this in the presence of our guests has been extraordinary.”