Congratulations to Yuan Wong and Crystal Lee, who came fifth in the Oxford Schools Debating Competition. We were delighted to have two teams qualify for the Finals Days for both the Cambridge and Oxford competitions this year. Our second team at the Oxford Finals Day, Yasmine Kanagalingam and Kartik Iyer, came 14th.
The Oxford Schools Competition is the largest British Parliamentary school-level debating competition in the world. Over 1000 students compete in regional rounds to qualify for the Finals Day, which is held in the historic Oxford Union. Teams came from Ireland, Hong Kong and America as well as the UK to compete.
The debaters are given just 15 minutes with no access to the internet to prepare their arguments on a wide range of topics. Motions at Oxford included: This House, as a parent, would use tiger parenting; This House Would legalise child labour in developing countries; and This House Supports the creation of local militias independent of the state in areas of high crime and low state control.
