Great Weekend of Debate

South Hampstead students enjoyed a Super Saturday followed by a Super Sunday of debating this weekend.

On Saturday, Mrs Bingham took a group of enthusiastic debaters to compete at the UCL Schools’ Competition – one of London’s biggest Schools debating tournaments, at the UCL Institute of Education. Against stiff competition from the likes of Eton and Westminster, our girls performed incredibly well in the British Parliamentary style debates, with Year 11 duo Juliana and Edie making the Silver Final and placing 2nd and 8th individually overall – a fantastic achievement.

The following day,  at the regionals of the International Competition for Young Debaters (ICYD), four teams took part in a daylong event at Imperial College, London. The girls’ impressive performances ensured the Gold Final was made up entirely of South Hampstead girls. Well done to all four teams, with a special mention to the overall winners of the regional round and gold final, Manon and Charlotte (Year 10), who placed 1st and 2nd on speaker points. Congratulations too to Sophie and Olivia (Year 8) who came second overall and joint third on speaker points, and Camille and Sophia (Year 7) who placed 7th and 8th, with Sophia performing at her first ever competition. Along with Molly (Year 8) and Lara (Year 7), all eight girls now look forward to the finals at the Oxford Union in May.