Great Debate
Congratulations to our debaters who have triumphed at numerous prestigious competitions this term.
In the LSE Junior stream, four teams (including our youngest) broke to the Silver final, where Lakshanaa and Nina in Year 9 were declared the winners. Amelie (Year 9) and Hailey (Year 8) won the Gold Final, while four of our speakers also finished in the top ten on the individual speaker tab. In the LSE Seniors stream, four Lower Sixth speakers finished in the top ten, with Molly and Sophia winning the Gold final. Meanwhile, at Imperial, Eleanor (Lower Sixth) and Julia (Year 10) won the Gold final, where Eleanor topped the speaker tab.
Six of our top Sixth Form debaters qualified for the finals’ day of both the Oxford and Cambridge schools’ competitions which attract thousands of students from all over the world. At the Oxford Schools’ final, held in the historic Oxford Union, Jessica and Olivia made the semi-finals and were the highest-ranking English team in the whole competition, placing fifth overall, while Olivia came fourth as an individual speaker out of 220 international finalists – an incredible achievement. In the Cambridge schools’ competition, talented debaters across the world compete for the opportunity to participate in finals’ day, held at the oldest debating society in the world. This year, three of the eighty qualifying teams were from South Hampstead, who all did exceptionally well, especially Chiara and Eleanor who sailed through their semi to compete in the grand final – a first for South Hampstead – debating the motion: ‘This House prefers a world where there is a widespread belief that falling in love is a choice.’
Through our award-winning Debate Hub initiative, the cornerstone of our partnership activity, many of our Sixth Form debaters visit local primary schools to help bolster their oracy provision. Some of these pupils are supporting our forthcoming state school championships, where more than 120 pupils from over a dozen local primary schools will attend a workshop led by Sixth Form and alumnae debaters before taking part in three rounds of debating. Debate Hub is funded entirely by the generosity of our donors and proceeds from corporate training workshops.