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Invicta Senior Debating Competition
Hannah in Pankhurst sent this report:
On Monday, 27 January, 22 students took part in what was another exciting Invicta Senior Debate Competition. With 6 strong teams, and three challenging motions, the first round showed the capability of each and every student to deliver impassioned, yet credible arguments, making the job of the judges very tough!
The first motion, ‘This House believes that the government should continue to invest in HS2’ saw Megan in Curie 2, Wantang in Nightingale 1, Sofia in Pankhurst 2 and Blessing in Colvin 1 argue for the motion, and Danneta in Austen 2, Donna in Nightingale 2, Anu in Roddick 1 and Priyasteena in Bronte 2 go against the motion, in what was a fiercely fought debate. With the topic so current, since a decision on HS2 is due to be made in government very soon, both teams did an excellent job of proposing their arguments and gave the audience an opportunity to form their own opinions before the official decision was made. Although both sides were very strong, the judges had to decide a winner, and came to the agreement that the ‘against’ team delivered the best argument in this debate.
The second motion saw Ella in 11S, Anusha and Angelica in 11T argue for the motion, ‘This House believes that the voting age should be reduced to 16.’, and Maria in Nightingale 2, Solape in Frank 2, Emily in Bronte 2 and myself argue against the motion. A team member down, the ‘for’ team dug deep and delivered an excellent proposition that I have to say was difficult to argue against, but again the judges had to choose a winner and we were delighted to be chosen as the strongest team in this debate.
The third motion saw a battle of the Year 10s, with Gabriella in 10N, Terrena in 10T, Summer in 10N and Zahra in 10N arguing for the motion, ‘This House believes that all households should be fined for not recycling’, and Ria and Ange land Elise in 10N arguing against. Although not an easy topic, this was a well-fought debate and after discussion, the ‘for’ team were chosen as the winners.
Only two of the winning teams could progress to the final, and so after deliberation, my team and the winning team from motion three were chosen to debate the motion, ‘This House believes that Corporate sponsorship is good for the arts. Arguably, the fiercest debate yet, the Year 10s, arguing ‘for’ the motion, provided multiple excellent counter-arguments to our points, which at times were difficult to come back from. However, after much discussion, the judges named our team as the winners, crediting our camaraderie and teamwork.
We would like to thank the judges, Dr White, Mr Saputo, Mrs LeSbirel, Mr Clej and Cherish in Curie 2, as well as Mrs Harrington for being the timekeeper and Mrs Lloyd and Mrs Rush for their hard work in organising the event.
