Durham Schools Debating competition

The debating team entered the prestigious Durham Schools Debating competition and were delighted to get three teams into the novice semi-finals: Maya Raman Jones and Hethvi Gada, Isabella Ghassemi-Smith and Meghna Nair, Alex Prior-Wandesforde and Pippa Stevens. The latter two teams beat off opposition from well-established debating schools, including Westminster, Dulwich College and Eton, to secure two of the four places in the Novice Final.

On the narrowest of margins – a 3/2 split – the five judges awarded the title elsewhere, but it was still an impressive achievement, particularly as two of our debaters, Isabella and Pippa, were competing for the first time ever. (Most novice speakers had been in other competitions during this academic year.) The final, held in the historic Durham Union Debating Chamber, was their seventh debate in two days, covering topics such as parents using spyware to track their children’s internet usage to criminalising climate change denial, all prepared in 15 minutes without access to research materials, so the competition is a huge test of general knowledge as well as the ability to develop and present a coherent, persuasive argument.