Voice Box joke competition for Primary school children

Voice Box is an annual joke-telling competition designed by the Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists (RCSLT) to build school children’s communication skills. This year’s competition is being run in partnership with National Association of Head Teachers (NAHT).

Over 10% of children start school with some form of language disorder. Undetected or unmet speech, language and communication problems can lead to low levels of literacy, poor educational attainment, poorer mental health and wellbeing and, in turn, difficulties finding employment, and life chances.

Mainstream and specialist Primary schools across England, Scotland and Northern Ireland are invited to bring laughter into their classrooms this autumn by taking part in the competition. Schools should hold their joke-telling contests between October and November and then submit their pupil’s funniest joke to the RCSLT by 29 November for a chance to go through to a grand final in London, next year.

The pupil with the ultimate winning joke will receive an iPad mini, while two runners-up will each receive gift tokens.

RCSLT CEO, Kamini Gadhok MBE, says: “The aim of the Voice Box competition is to remind people that all children need support to build their communication skills and confidence and some need additional specialist help to speak and understand what is being said to them.

“Communication is a fundamental skill and has the most profound and positive impact on our lives - from our social and emotional development to our behaviour, learning and educational attainment, employment prospects and life chances. It impacts on how we interact with other people, how we understand them and, in turn, how we are understood.”

The RCSLT has developed a toolkit with useful resources, ideas and a nomination form for schools to download from the RCSLT website