This week’s Focus Week celebrates International Women’s Day and each Year 8 tutor group provided a debating team of four students to participate in the debating competition. Judging the debate were School Librarian Helena Cresswell, School Governor Nina Worrall and Greywood Trustee Gill Stockdale.
The students had to open their debate with powerful statements and then argue their case using independent research. Students have points deducted from their team if they speak over one another, or if a member of the team does not participate; this ensures all are active speakers, and also teaches students to be respectful listeners.
The judges were complimentary about all team members, but the overall winners were Seward House with their team of Cosmia Mynett, Lily Wood, Isla McCaskie and Penny Galway.
The Most Valuable Debaters chosen by the external judges were Isla McCaskie (Seward House) and Iago Navio (Johnson House). The judges also gave a special mention to Tom Curry (Darwin House) and Morgan Detheridge (Garrick House) for their debating skills.
Jamie Sleigh, Head of Seward House said, “I am absolutely thrilled at the commitment and preparation shown by the Seward House debating teams. We’ve won the last three debates so the pressure is on to win the Year 7 debate in a few weeks’ time!”
Helena Cresswell, School Librarian, added, “Congratulations to all students who took part. There were some convincing arguments and it was clear that the students had prepared in advance.”
