Autumn Debating
The welcome return to school this term has meant a return to Debating – with a bang.
After a term of remote Debating, South Hampstead has resumed its usual busy array of in-person clubs. Our five weekly Debating clubs and workshops continue to gain in popularity, with 125 girls participating across the school and older students taking the lead in coordinating many of the sessions.
Our students were excited to take part in the first competitive event of the year, which was the Women’s Open, hosted at St. Paul’s Girls’ School. Eight of our newest debaters took part, including some brand new Year 7s, in a fantastic day of online debating. A further six students also took part in Dulwich Schools, another exciting online competition.
Our first competitive success of the term came at Imperial Schools, a large competition involving 65 teams from across the country. One of our pairs, Manon (Year 11) and Edie (Lower Sixth) did exceptionally well, coming seventh overall and making it to the Silver Final. Sophia (Year 8) also did extremely well to come second in the Novice Speaker rankings.
Beyond these external events, we also continued our very productive partnership with Chiltern Academy, hosting teachers for online training in how to incorporate debating into lessons and running an online friendly for students in Years 8 and 9. The friendly involved two rounds of debates for a total of 24 debaters, plus student judges. Two teams came out as the joint winners: very well done to Olivia, Camille and Rosie from South Hampstead and Team Prop from Chiltern! We are looking forward to collaborating further with their staff and students next half term.
As part of Black History Month, seven of our Sixth Formers took part in a show debate in front of the Sixth Form. Edie, Duha, Awele, Megan, Sonya, Christina and Auhona debated the motion: This house would abolish Black History Month and incorporate it into the wider curriculum. The winners, voted for by the students in the audience, were the Proposition – well done, Megan, Sonya, Awele and Christina!
Next half term promises to be action-packed. We are very much looking forward to our internal friendly for Years 7 and 8, our SHHS Online Debating Competition and our friendlies with QPCS, UCS and CLSG. Our older students will also take part in LSE Schools, Warwick Schools and Birmingham Schools, as well as the London Online Debating Competition. Our debaters are raring to go and we hope to report further competitive successes by the end of 2020!