Congratulations to Bear (Year 10) who represented the School at the Jack Petchey Speak Out Challenge Regional Final at the King Edmund School in Rochford on Tuesday 28 April 2026.

This competition gives young people a voice, and asks for competitors to perform a three minute speech on a topic of their choice. This was open to schools in the Rochford and Southend area, and Bear faced stiff competition from 12 competitors from the Borough. Bear delivered an impassioned performance titled "Be you", in which he discussed the importance of being who you want to be, and not being the person that social media and society might have you believe you need to be.

It was a close event, but we are delighted that Bear won the Regional Final, leaving him well-placed to perform in the Grand Final. The 37 finalists from the London Boroughs and Essex Regions will now be whittled down to just 15 by a judging panel - we await the news to see whether Bear will make it through to the Grand Final at the Cambridge Theatre in London's West End in July.

We are proud of Bear for his impressive achievement, and also of Samuel (Year 10) who was the School's reserve participant, and who has very much been a part of the training process and was in attendance to support Bear on the evening.