News ESU Mace Debating Regional Final 15.03.2024

On Tuesday our tenacious team of debaters represented the school in the Regional Final of English Speaking Union’s Mace Debating Competition.

Having come through two tough rounds, Izzy (Year 11), Rania and Lola (Year 10) knew this would be their most difficult test yet. They prepared in opposition to the motion ‘This House would create a compulsory national DNA database’ by contacting a forensic scientist working with the police to gauge how impactful their counter argument was. Lower Sixth debaters also gave our team a good practice run with some tough questioning.

As we were hosting, our students had the extra responsibility of directing people and helping them settle in – which of course they did with grace and kindness. Our school caterers provided a lovely tea which fuelled the action.

Unfortunately for the team, they were just pipped at the post by Sixth Formers from Tiffin, only missing out by one point. Judges argued about these two teams for over half an hour — so the closeness of score was very real. It was an impressive debate of incredibly high standard and we have every confidence that our students have a great debating future.