No joking! Castle Tower pupil is Voice Box winner

The Castle Tower pupil won the Post-Primary award in the finals of a joke telling competition showcasing the benefits of speech and language therapy.

Ethan, not surprisingly, got a huge chuckle from the audience for his joke: ‘Why could the chicken not eat any more? – Because he was stuffed!’

The Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists (RCSLT) held first ever ‘Voice Box Awards’ in the historic Senate Chamber to highlight the importance of communication skills to young people as part of the UK wide Giving Voice campaign.

Hosted by the Speaker of the Assembly, William Hay, brought together pupils, parents, teachers, MLAs and speech and language therapists using comedy.

Pupils were shortlisted from entries received from across Northern Ireland and the finalists were invited to tell their jokes in front of the audience and a select judging panel.

Ethan was joined by pupils from across Northern Ireland, including Thomas Adams who was shortlisted for the Primary category and represented Clough Primary. - Thomas’s rib tickler was: ‘A penguin is about to cross the road when a chicken shouts to him “Don’t do it mate, you’ll never hear the end of it!”’

Both boys were given the chance to have a tour of the Assembly, tell her joke in front of the audience and meet with local MLAs including Mervyn Storey, Robin Swann and David McIlveen.

Congratulating both the boys, North Antrim MLA Mervyn Storey said: “It was a tremendous event and congratulations to all the finalists. I am particularly pleased that the post primary winner was from Castle Tower school. The work of that school means so much to an awful lot of parents in the Ballymena and greater North Antrim area.”

“The event was a great opportunity for pupils to visit Stormont and thoroughly enjoy themselves and we politicians enjoyed ourselves too - even though I was put out of the class for reading my notes.

“It was great to showcase the range of skills and abilities and allow the pupils interact with schools from across Northern Ireland.

“While there was a humorous aspect to the day – there was the underlying issue of the invaluable work of speech and language therapists and their work needs to become a greater priority moving forward.”

With approximately 7,600 school children across Northern Ireland identified as having speech, language and communication difficulties in the school year 2009/2010 the need to act to address this problem has never been greater according to Alison McCullough MBE, RCSLT Northern Ireland Policy Officer.

Commenting on the reasons behind holding the event, Alison said: “School teachers are telling us that communication difficulties are the most common problem for children entering school. Having a speech, language or communication need has huge implications for the pupil’s education, personal and social development.

“Experience has clearly shown that collaboration provides the best supportive environment for children and adults with speech, language and communication needs. Through the RCSLT’s Giving Voice campaign, politicians and speech and language therapists are working more closely together making a difference to improve the lives of speech and language sufferers across the whole of Northern Ireland and the rest of United Kingdom.” said Alison