Congratulations to Y11 pupils Max and George, who have triumphed at the first major debating competition of the year at Dulwich College. The final motion was ‘This House Believes that everyone should have access to their personal health data’, which Max and George were supporting.
Highgate teams ranked 1st and 11th out of the 115 teams present. Alexa and Thomas, Y10, competed extremely fiercely in the bronze finals, narrowly missing out on the win. On individual achievement, out of the 230 total speakers, George ranked 2nd in speaking ability, with Max close behind at 5th, and Thomas ranking 29th.
George enthused, “This took an immense amount of work, with at one point us preparing a case together every day for a solid week. It all paid off in the end, since this is the biggest debate tournament on the schools circuit all year, and we got a great result. The skills that debating teaches are at best epiphenomenal to the enjoyment I experience when doing any sort of public speaking – this competition specifically was a great laugh.”
Max added, “Attending Competitive Debating Club at Highgate has massively accelerated my progress in debating. Our coach teaches weighing in more detail than just about any other coach on the circuit, and patiently puts up with some of our crazier case ideas. I’m looking forward to an exciting debating season, with South Hampstead, LSE Schools and the UCL Winter Cup coming up this term!”
Louise Shelley, Senior Deputy Head who attended the event, reflected: “I was very proud of the positive, supportive and committed approach shown by all eight Highgate pupils. The quality of the debating in the Gold Final was superb: George and Max (both Y11) performed brilliantly and they should feel very proud of their impressive achievements – particularly given that they were competing against a number of Sixth Formers.”
Debating Club is just one of Highgate’s many co-curricular activities on offer at the Senior School. Find out more here.
