Students from La Sainte Union Girls School (LSU) in Highgate have come top of the class in a London-wide oracy tournament.

Despite being one of the few non-private schools at the Spring Senior Public Speaking Championships, two pupils from LSU managed to secure joint first-place at the competition.

Following a series of heats that involved nearly 60 speeches, interviews and compere tasks, five finalists were chosen by the judging panel, including three LSU students.

Speeches were then heard by each student, before two winners were crowned; Bianca Marhwe and Louise-Anne De Belen, both year 10 LSU pupils.

Louise-Anne said that despite always being “the anxious type”, the “magic of oracy” had enabled her to become a more confident public speaker.

She said: “Speaking in front of such a large live audience filled me with an incredible sense of empowerment. All my hard work has been worth it.”

LSU English teacher and oracy lead Laurence Daley added: “The school is putting increasing emphasis on ensuring our pupils build skills of spoken as well as written articulacy, to support them both in their academic studies and throughout their lives, and the fruits of this work are starting to show.”