On Thursday, Ryan, Frederic and Pranav participated in the second round of the ESU Churchill Public Speaking Competition. The team presented on the topic of prisoner voting, arguing that the status quo in the UK should be maintained. A confident performance resulted in very positive feedback from the judges, although they just missed out on qualifying for a place in the third round of the competition.  

On Friday evening, eight of our debaters competed in the regional round of the Oxford Schools’ Debating Competition. They debated on the topics of whether private schools should be abolished and whether developmental aid should be withdrawn from countries where human rights are routinely violated.  

Debaters Atticus, Will, Ryan, Frederic, Ptolemy and Thomas all competed to a high standard.  

Our B team of Arjan and Will performed particularly well and were one of seven teams out of 52 to qualify for Finals Day – an incredible achievement. 

In March, Will and Arjan will go on to debate at The Oxford Union, one of the most prestigious debating societies in the world, where they will compete against the highest scoring teams from the UK, Ireland and from the four international qualifying rounds.