Skip to content ↓

Jack Petchey Speak Out Challenge

Students from Heston Community School shone on Wednesday 1st March as they participated in the Regional Final of the Jack Petchey Speak Out Challenge, hosted by Brentford School for Girls.

Students from Heston Community School shone on Wednesday 1st March as they participated in the Regional Final of the Jack Petchey Speak Out Challenge, hosted by Brentford School for Girls.

56 Heston students initially took part in the school-based training provided by the Speaker’s Trust. After a tough selection process, Sukhnam Kaur (10O) and Roshni Manku (10W) were chosen to represent the school at the Regional Final. Having already proven their excellent communication skills through two rounds of competition, they were well prepared to represent Heston.

Both students performed exceptionally well, receiving rapturous applause from the audience and the judging panel. Roshni’s impassioned plea against ‘The Dangers of Stereotyping’ struck a chord with the audience, many of whom may have experienced such prejudice in their own lives, and Sukhnam’s captivating ‘Bang!’ left everybody with their hearts in their mouths.

English teacher Ms Sarah Farmer, who organised the students’ participation in the event, said, “Every student in that competition, including Heston’s students, had a story to tell, a view that we might not have considered, and an emotion that they allowed us to experience with them. The courage they showed was inspiring.”

While this year the victory went to The Heathland School, this doesn’t detract from the hard work and dedication that Roshni and Sukhnam put in, leading them to be two very strong competitors indeed!

Thank you to the English department for supporting this event.