The House Debating Competitions kicked off with Year 11s from Garrick and Johnson debating the value, quality and future of British Food.
The competition saw students prepare their own opening and closing statements based on independent research they have undertaken over the last three days.
Although the focus was on British food, lots of other topics were drawn into the debate: the impact of Brexit on British food, cultural diversity in the UK, the role of the Empire in developing cuisine, cabbages costing £4.00, fishing quotas and of course, the Sunday roast!
There was lots of passion and fantastic points and the two judges – Lauren Gray (event organiser) and Jamie Checkland (Chair of Governors) – had a tough task at keeping up with the scoring as the cut-and-thrust of debate gathered pace.
Jamie Checkland, Chair of Governors, said: “We have been keen to use the House system as a tool for getting academic competition thriving and this first House debate was of an amazing quality. The arguments were clever, cut to the heart of points and showed a high level of understanding of a wide range of modern issues. It was a superb start.”
