28 January 2020
On Tuesday 28 January the whole school gathered in the auditorium for the House Debate Finals.
First to take the stage were the Digby and Duchesne teams, battling for third and fourth place after the previous week’s first round. Duchesne – Imo (Year 9), Izzy (Year 10) and Molly (Year 11) - proposed the motion ‘This house would impose full life sentences on those convicted of terrorism’ and Digby - Linda (Year 9), Bella (Year 10) and Desiree (Year 11) opposed it. In the chair was Sixth Former Gloria, who introduced the speakers and didn’t hesitate to use her gavel to signify time was up for speakers on a couple of occasions.
After giving the judges, Mr Hayward and Mr Kellaway, a couple of minutes for the discussion, Stuart and Barat went head to head on the motion ‘This house would ban online gambling’. Barat - Claudia (Year 9), Tona (Year 10) and LouLou (Year 11) - spoke for the motion and Stuart - Sophia (Year 9), Annabel (Year 10) and Katie (Year 11) - against it.
Before announcing the results, Mr Hayward complimented the students on two superb debates and the terrific research that had gone into them. He was particularly pleased to see some excellent engagement with the opposition and attempts to take down their arguments (especially when they’d done a great job of putting them forward).
In the first debate, Duchesne was judged to have carried the motion, taking third place and Digby Fourth. Stuart successfully opposed the motion in the second debate, winning this year’s competition, while Barat’s LouLou was given a special mention (and 50 house points) for the best speech of the competition.
Well done to all competitors – including Alison and Ana (Duchesne) and Katy (Stuart) who took part in the first round. The art of debating is very much alive and well at Woldingham!
