Over-paid football players, song lyrics and more personal experiences were the subjects of speeches given by Year 10 students as part of the Jack Petchey SPEAK OUT Challenge.

Al Brunker from the Jack Petchey organization presented to the students in two workshops covering the key elements to making a good speech. All the students then presented to the group on a subject they felt strongly about. Al then selected the winners aided by a vote by the students.

Two winners from Heston will go forward to compete against winners from other schools in the Regional Final of the SPEAK OUT Challenge at Hounslow Manor School. Shehla Khan and Haider Ashfaq will be the students going forward to this final. Shehla spoke about problems for women in Afghanistan and Haider spoke about the loss of his cousin in the Birmingham riots.

Haider, is pictured above with Al Brunker and Linda Wade, Learning Co-ordinator for Year 10 who organized the workshops. Ms Wade said: "I was highly impressed with the progress the students made during the course of the workshop. They learnt some key skills which will be most useful for them in the future and spoke with real confidence to the group when delivering their final speeches."