At the end of June both staff and students took time for some informative and entertaining fun in the form of a series of public debates organised by Mrs Mangat and her Debatemate team in the drama studio afterschool.

Teams of four students and staff went head to head to formally argue and debate a series of motions looking at the state of the world at present. Mrs Mangat chaired the debates and was ably assisted by two students whilst their colleagues made up the majority of the audience combined with a sprinkling of parents and senior teachers.
Following a buffet in Durrent block the evening got underway with a debate on the motion that ‘This house believes that reality TV does more harm than good.’ A brave team comprised of Derrin Dosunmu, Jessica Lawrence, Kian Murphy and Amer Debbache took on a team led by Miss Schubert, Miss Bradby and Miss Ambrose. The teachers narrowly won despite the huge differences in age, education and experience.

The cut and thrust of debate continued in the following two rounds where the motions ‘This house believes that it is sometimes right for the government to restrict freedom of speech’ and ‘This house believes that prisoners should be allowed to vote’ were tackled.

Once again the students held their own against the teachers including Miss Diver, Miss Peck, Dr Longson, Mr Moore them Miss Burd, Miss Dryden, Mr Conant and Miss Edwards. Everyone involved was well-prepared and willing to use debating tactics with regular requests for ‘points of information and ‘robust rebuttals’. Credit must be given to Tolu Dairo, Taku Umali, Bianca Filip, Megan Gibbs, Michael Tucker, Kallum Russell, Riann Valentine Coker and Chelsea Dutton.

Each debate ended with a vote and rousing cheers. By the end of the evening all of those involved were exhausted but found the experience both enjoyable and exhilarating. Mrs Mangat was very pleased with the way that the event went, ‘It was so good to see staff and students interacting in this way’ she said. Head teacher Mrs Davies echoed this sentiment saying ‘I hope that this becomes an established annual event at our school from now on.’

The winning team of the Great Debate final was the proposition team; ‘this house believes that the wages of professional sportspeople should not exceed the wages of those who work to benefit society’. With experienced debaters chairing the event in an efficient way the two sides debated intensely throughout the afternoon. There was a four-minute interlude when students from the audience got to ask questions to the contestants about the motion.

Following the announcement of the winning side individual awards were made to Amy for Year 7, Jerome for Year 8, Gabriella for Year 9 and Michael for Year 10. Yet again, Mrs Mangat and Mr Conant would like to thank all students for taking part and hope that the year winners will be using their debating skills in further competitions.