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Debate News – November

Posted: 27th November 2020

It has been a busy two weeks for the students who take part in the Debate Society. 

On Saturday 15th November, 12 students participated in Birmingham University’s Schools Debating Competition, held online this year. With 40 teams from around the UK participating, they faced tough competition tackling challenging motions such as:  “This house would charge patients a fee for NHS treatments resulting from lifestyle choices”.  Congratulations to Morgan Chen and Griff Hughes for winning the novice final and to Aparna Chodavarapu and Anusha Aravindan for achieving a place in the novice finals. 

The following week saw four students take part in the national Debating Matters competition.  Bill Chen and Xuanru Tao lost their round on a split vote with both being highly praised by the judges for the quality of their research on the topic:  “Climate Change:  People should not have more than 2 children”.  However,  congratulations go to Sylvana Poon and Aparna Chodavarapu who won their round with the topic:  “Unhealthy lifestyles are not the business of government”.  Bill Chen was also commended by the judges for his speaking skills and was awarded second best speaker in the competition. 

To complete the week, Saturday 21st November saw another 12 students take part in Warwick University’s Schools Debating Competition.  This high- level competition saw 56 teams from around the UK participating.  Xuanru Tao and Siya Goyal won their round on the topic:  “This house would enforce gender balance quotas on directors of national companies”.  Karen Cao and Audrey Leung were also successful in winning their round on:  “This house would punish sporting teams for the violent/disruptive behaviour of their fans”.  These university competitions give only fifteen minutes for preparation for each motion which certainly challenges thinking skills.  Well done therefore to Maha Sapre and Amal Imtiaz who achieved a place in the novice finals. 

We look forward to another challenging day with LSE Schools Debating Competition on 28th November as well as more friendly competitions with local schools.

Categories: News