Jake Spence (L6) and Adam Hill (U6) took part in the final of the national French debating competition at the French Institute on Wednesday 21 March. They came third by only one point with 12 points out of 15.

Seven teams had reached the final: Sevenoaks, two teams from Saint Paul’s Girls’ school, one team from Saint Paul’s school and two teams from the north of England. The team from Saint Paul’s School won the competition.

The three motions they had to debate were:
- Il faudrait imposer un salaire minimum pour les grands patrons.
- Le gouvernement Sarkozy a eu raison d’interdire le port de la burka dans les lieux publics.
- Le téléchargement illégal doit être sévèrement réprimé.

Jake and Adam were against very strong and fierce opposition but they were a great team and never lost their calm and sense of humour. Their ideas were complex and perceptive and they always expressed themselves with finesse and sophistication.

In the first two rounds, which took place on Wednesday 29 February at Saint Paul’s Girls’ school, they had to debate the following motions:
- En période de crise économique, les questions environnementales important peu.
- Il faut interdire la vente d’alcool aux moins de 21 ans.
- Le Royaume-Uni devrait introduire les cartes nationales d’identité sur le modèle de la France.

As it could not be decided which runner-up teams would go through they had to debate the following motions with only 10 minutes to prepare each of them:
- L’interdiction d’adopter des enfants pour des couples homosexuels est injuste.
- Le français est une langue superflue face à l’anglais.
- L’internet offre plus d’inconvénients que d’avantages.

Adam and Jake got through to the final. The judges were impressed and complimented them for their ideas and their level of French. Aisha Bennett (U6) and Cecely Richard-Carvajal (U6) also took part in first round. They were very strong competitors but they had to debate in a strong pool to start with. Even though they scored 13 out of 15 for all their debates, they did not manage to go through the second round.