TWO secondary schools have shared the top prize in this year’s States Assembly ‘Mark My Words’ oracy competition.
Victoria College and Haute Vallée School were named joint winners at the competition final in the States Chamber with Victoria College student Jayden Ochieng taking the individual prize for the best speech.
Launched in 2025, the Mark My Words competition is designed to encourage persuasive communication and critical thinking.
Participating schools complete a three-week unit of work focused on public speaking in a political context, using teaching resources created by the States Greffe.
Students are tasked with creating a speech of up to three minutes calling for local change. Finalists from each school then compete in the States Chamber, delivering their speeches and taking part in questioning with students from other schools.
The final brought together 49 Year 8 students from seven secondary schools.
This year students were asked to speak on the themes of conflict, sustainability and social responsibility.
The schools taking part were Beaulieu, Grainville, Haute Vallée, Jersey College for Girls, Les Quennevais, Le Rocquier and Victoria College.
Deputy Victoria Li and Jersey’s Oracy Development Lead, Andrew Willis, judged the competition.
The winning schools took home a share of the £500 prize to spend on resources for their schools, as well as taking the Mark My Words Shield.
Pip Oliver, education manager at the States Greffe, said the competition had been created to help Year 8 students develop their public speaking skills.
“We created Mark My Words to give Year 8 students the opportunity to build on the oracy skills they developed through the Year 6 primary school initiative ‘Speak up, speak out’.
“It also enhances students’ knowledge and understanding of Jersey’s political system,” she said. “We’re grateful to all the schools who took part in the competition, and particularly to the students who came to the States Chamber today to deliver their speeches, and answer their peers’ questions.”
Deputy Li said: “It’s a real privilege to take on the role of competition judge and to hear students’ views shared in this way.
“It was clear that all participants put in a lot of hard work to research and craft their speeches and this preparation shone through in their confident delivery in the States Chamber.”
She also praised the students for their questioning of one another.
“Opposing teams interrogated brilliantly with thoughtful questions which demonstrated their active listening and ability to challenge ideas on the spot. All the participating students should be very proud of their efforts.”
