Taree & District Eisteddfod is now one of the biggest in Australia and Bulahdelah Central School has participated annually for a number of years now.

This year the Speech & Drama section of the Eisteddfod was held from 25 May to 30 May.

Certificates, trophies and a monetary award will be presented to the winning students at the K-6 Merit Assembly at the end of the term.

The Primary Department had a strong representation and it was Mrs. Ange Vella who coached and supported the students.

Mrs. Vella was particularly proud of Westleigh Richardson, Jai Jones, Izaac Chisholm and Luke Rinortner who had to perform a play with only minutes to prepare.

This group of students came second in the Unscripted Drama section of the Eisteddfod.

The Prepared Speech 12 Years & Under section of the Eisteddfod had thirteen entrants and five of the prizes: first place, second place, a Highly Commended and two Encouragement awards were won by Bulahdelah Primary School students.

Myall Coast News spoke with Finlay O’Connell, who came first, about her speech titled Words to find out why it was such a stand-out piece.

“I used lots of expression and chose a topic that was quite different from the others.”

“I spoke about the words antidisestablishmentarianism and bumfuzzle,” explained Finlay.

Khloe Middleton received second prize and spoke about little sayings.

She said that this received many laughs from the audience.

Maggie Cunich, a Year 3 student, received first prize for her Mime Solo.

This required her to stay silent for three minutes and act out a daily routine.

In the Primary Debating and Impromptu Reading section, the students from Bulahdelah all received Highly Commended.

For the Primary School One Act Play section, Emma-Rose Carruthers, Tori Spring, Tarryn Clifford, Annika Johns and Khloe Middleton received 2nd prize.

Bulahdelah Central High School students won an outstanding amount of trophies, prizes and highly commended and encouragement awards at the Taree Eisteddfod this year.

Approximately fifty students from Years 7 – 12 participated in the Speech and Drama section and the Dance section of the Eisteddfod in May.

Ms. Vanessa Shultz, Head of Humanities, coached and supported the students, along with humanities teachers: Hannah Lawton and Heather Moncrieff.

Awards were handed out at the school assembly on Monday 15 June.

Tate Bruinsma received the Most Impressive/Promising Novice Performer Award in the competition.
And Tom Locke received the Most Memorable Performance Award for his Non Shakespearean Monologue.

For the Senior Championship section of the Eisteddfod, Luana White came second and received a trophy.
Considering that there were hundreds of students competing from the Great Lakes/Manning area, this is a great achievement for these Bulahdelah students.

Students from Year 11 & 12, Hannah Rietveld, Chloe Shultz, Jaimii Gardner-Carrall and Bonnie Mirisch, were the Grand Final Winners for Debating.

Ruby Keys and Tate Bruinsma received a first prize trophy for their Dramatic Duologue Non-Shakespearean piece.

The Year 9/10 One Act Play group won first prize for their piece titled “Time-Out”.

Myall Coast News spoke with Bailey Shultz about their performance.

“The reason we won was for our use of movement and the interaction of the actors.
We knew our roles very fluently.”

Students from Year 7 & 8 also won many awards for their entries for speeches and the One Act Play.

Bulahdelah Central School is very proud of the results of all the participants.

Much preparation and skill and creativity is involved to compete at this level.