Debating competition reports
Student reports penned by Aayush (Year 8), Kaan (Year 10) and Anirudha (Year 10)!
"On 11 November, we went to South Hampstead High School for a debating competition, the first of many this year. The experience was great; it was my first time competing against other schools and the ideas and arguments exchanged were really interesting. Although the transport was a little rough, the lessons learned were invaluable and the overall experience was unforgettable!"
Written by Aayush (Year 8)
"On 11 November, a group of nine students took part in a debating competition in north London for an exciting opportunity to showcase their debating skills and represent the school. Under the supervision of Miss Mortimer, we made our way from the school to the train at East Croydon, before arriving at South Hampstead High School in around an hour. The venue and the facilities we saw around the school before the competition were very nice; it was definitely a welcoming place to host a debating competition for beginners with little experience.
The competition was a friendly one between a number of schools, all with excellent debaters on their teams. Unlike our familiar debating society lunchtime club, the competition’s format consisted of teams of three with two schools competing against each other, challenging students to work together and collaborate as a team on a range of points in a topic, rather than the usual pairs working on one idea. We found it quite exciting to push ourselves into what seemed like a confusing (yet exciting at the same time) way to debate, but we were met with great clarity from the host and help from the judges across the rounds.
For most of us, this was our second debating competition, so we naturally felt nervous as well as excited – but nevertheless, we knew that all the practice would pay off. The debate itself was to be three rounds, where all three had to be won in order to win the competition. There were a total of three Wilson’s teams, two for the senior category and one for the juniors, and therefore across a wide range of year groups, which was a nice way for us to get to know more people. A notable success for Wilson’s came in the second round, as all three teams came in first place in their debates!
The debate topics themselves were engaging and relevant in our society today. One we particularly enjoyed the most was the topic on banning the burning of effigies (statues of living people, often politicians), where some of us debated against banning them and some debated in favour of them; it was very significant and important to today’s politics and problems in society.
Throughout the debates, Wilson’s was matched with schools such as Godolphin and Latymer School, Dr Challoner’s School and St Dunstan’s College. After all the debates had finished, and we had received feedback from the judges for certain debates, it was time for the winners to be announced. Unfortunately, two of our teams had won one and lost one of their debates so far, and all three wins were required for a win. The other senior team for Wilson’s had won both of their debates so far, so we hoped that had been the case for the third round as well. However, this was sadly not the case, simply due to the high level of competition present. For us, the opportunity to develop our debating skills felt like a win regardless of the result!
We would definitely recommend such competitions like these, as you never feel overwhelmed or embarrassed in such a supportive, kind, and most importantly, fun environment. It is worth mentioning that none of this would have been possible without them, so we would like to thank Miss Mortimer and our debating prefect, Nihithan, as well as Mr Powell, for contributing so much towards helping us learn and grow as Wilson’s School debaters and active members in our society’s politics. We all really appreciate their help."
Written by Kaan (Year 10) & Anirudha (Year 10)