Christmas talk-a-thon for children's charity

Exeter’s Helen O’Grady Drama Academy has organised a talk-a-thon themed ‘If I was Santa for a day’, inviting pupils to speak for up to three minutes to raise funds for the children’s communication charity, I CAN – the leading charity helping children develop the speech, language and communication skills they need to thrive in the 21st century.

The talk-a-thon aims to encourage and develop students public speaking skills at the academy and will be held at the academy’s annual ‘Bring your Parents Day’ in the final week of term. Participating students will be encouraged to fundraise for I CAN’s vital work to ensure that no child should be left out or left behind because of a difficulty speaking or understanding.

Abbe Martin, Principal of the drama school said, “At Helen O’Grady we believe passionately in the power of communication, so I thought it would be a great idea to team up with I CAN as I feel their ethos links closely to what we do in our sessions – to encourage every child to be able to speak confidently and express themselves freely.”

Students will be encouraged to speak on something important to them and urged to focus on the clarity, pace and volume of their speech. Children aged 5-7 will speak for 1 minute, 8-9 year olds for 2 minutes and 10-11 year olds for a total of 3 minutes.

Rebecca Kemp, I CAN’s Corporate and Events Fundraiser, said, “We are thrilled that the Helen O’Grady Drama Academy have chosen to fundraise on behalf of I CAN this Christmas! A talk-a-thon is an excellent fun way of focussing on children and young people’s communication skills, something we know is vital for their future prospects.”

At I CAN we know that language is the fundamental life skill, essential for all learning and making friends. Children who can’t communicate will find life hard. They will struggle at school and may well end up isolated, without the social and emotional relationships they need to thrive. Worryingly upwards of 50 percent of children in disadvantaged areas arrive at school without the basic language skills they need for learning. I CAN works to provide solutions for this, and to make sure that they cover children and young people at every stage of development.

To support I CAN’s work this Christmas visit http://www.ican.org.uk/christmas