Basildon students excel in Scholars Programme and Speakout Challenge
Students at De La Salle Basildon have once again illustrated their undoubted talent, determination and willingness take on challenges by excelling in the Scholars Programme and the Jack Petchey Speakout Challenge.
The Scholars Programme
At De La Salle, we have been working over the past number of years with The Scholars Programme. These sessions are aimed at year 9 students who we believe could succeed at a top UK university. This is the 4th cohort that I have been involved with and I am truly amazed at the calibre of work that students continue to produce.
The Brilliant Club, as it is more locally known, is a programme in that PhD tutors teach students on a range of topics. We have been very lucky this year to have worked with two tutors both of which have expressed their pleasure in teaching a group of talented enthusiastic individuals.
The spring cohort has recently completed their graduation, celebrating their remarkable achievements. Students are marked using university grades and I am very pleased to announce that all 12 students completed the course to a high standard, with one of our students achieving a 1:1, and another 5 students each achieving a 2:1. These are outstanding achievements for year 9 students. I can see bright futures for all of the students who have completed the course.
Later this year the summer cohort will graduate and I know that I will be extolling the same sense of achievement and pride as previous cohorts. In the autumn term, we hope to visit Cambridge University to show students what opportunities their hard work and determination could provide.
Jack Petchey Speakout Challenge
The lockdown years notwithstanding, this year will be the tenth time De La Salle has participated in the Jack Petchey Speakout Challenge - and it turned out to be tenth time lucky this year for our entrants, Lubelihle Ncube and Hilary Leussa, who came first and second respectively!
The process begins with a day of training for our Year 10 students with a public-speaking expert from Speaker's Trust, an organisation that specialises in giving young people the skills to make their voices heard. This fun and rewarding day culminates in each pupil performing their own speech to an audience of their peers.
Two pupils are then chosen from all of those who participated in the workshops (picking just two from the 150 who participated was a tough decision!) to represent the school at the nearest regional championship. For us, it was Hilary Leussa with a speech on racism titled 'Eyes', and Lube Ncube with a speech on body-shaming called 'Fat and Fabulous'. In the end, the girls dominated the podium and the night most decisively belonged to De La Salle.
Of her participation and win, Lube said the following: 'The competition gave me a platform to voice a topic important to me. I feel very privileged that my voice has been heard, and that I was able to move people that I did not know. It shows that if you speak, you will be heard.'
You can watch their amazing speeches here: