T: 01666 880333
E: office@westonbirt.gloucs.sch.uk
Tetbury, Gloucestershire GL8 8QG
Debating is a popular activity that appeals to a wide range of girls, from those who see it as an interesting extension of their Speech and Drama studies to those who have their sights set on a legal career eager to hone potential courtroom skills.
Mrs Browne, Head of English, organised Debating activities for the older girls while Mrs Cowell, Head of History, runs the programme for the younger girls. Mrs Browne reports here on two typical debating events.
Cambridge Schools Debating Competition (Friday 4th December 2009)
Two teams of debaters travelled to Ysgol Gymraeg Glantaf in Cardiff for the first round of the Cambridge Schools Debating competition. It was an arduous journey, battling through Friday night rush hour traffic but we travelled with our arch rivals Marling so we had good company there and back. Underneath it, however, simmered a desire to get even for Marling beating us when we held our informal debate, here, in October!
We arrived and were immediately told that in fact we had been drawn with Marling in one of our debates, along with two other schools and so the competition heated up even more! We began the first debate, which was prepared, opposing the motion "This House Would Ban The Consumption of Meat". Team A consisted of Georgina Blackmore and Ahsley White and both girls gave a very spirited performance, speaking with both passion and logic, a factor which was acknowledged by the adjudicator in the summation. This equally applied to the unprepared debate which was "This House would Ban Extreme Political Parties" and again Team A gave a great performance. However, to our dismay, the Marling boys just pipped us to the post and went through to the next round, though they gallantly said that we really had them worried.
Team B consisted of Emily Clare and Rebekah Heaney, who were drawn against St. John's and two other schools. Again, in a closely fought competition, St John's went through, but our girls gave a great performance against a team which went through to the final round of last year's Oxford Schools Debating competition. It was noted that the level of vocabulary used by both Westonbirt teams to communicate points was of a particularly high standard and the girls' subtle use of humour was appreciated too.
Despite not going through, we had a most enjoyable evening and in February we shall be travelling to Bristol, again with Marling, to pit our wits in the Oxford Schools Debating competiton.
We shall be looking for revenge...
Preparing for the Oxford Schools Debating Competition (Tuesday 8th December 2009)
We are now turning our sights to the Oxford competition, the first round of which takes place in February. The Oxford Competition differs only very sightly in their rules but the most nail-bitibg difference for the girls is that both debates are unprepared, unlike the Cambridge Competition where we are given one of the motions before the competition so we can gather our thoughts and collect some evidence. So, in order to prepare for this event , last night girls from the year 12 debating teams attended a workshop run by two Oxford debaters at Stroud High.
Several schools were there, including our nemesis Marling, and so it was a good opportunity to size up the competition. The session began with an overview of the way the debates run and although we already knew the structure, we picked up some useful tips as well as some complelling mnemonics! SEXI, for example means that in your delivery you must remember to make you Statement, EXplain your point and then Illustrate however you can. We also gathered some useful tips on tactical issues such as the use of POI (points of information) and when it's a good time to accept and when to decline.This part of the evening took longer than we expected and after over an hour we were finally able to get our teeth into a debate.
Numbers were high so unfortunately only one of our team members was able to debate and Ashley White flew the flag for Westonbirt with great panache. She was second proposer for the motion "This House Would Banish The Monarchy". A spirited debate took place and the feedback at the end was extremely useful. We shall certainly be capitalising upon the information we gathered and using it as we prapre for the debate in February.
Coming up, we also have another informal debate scheduled with Marling later in the year. If you are interested in reading more about the Oxford Schools Debating Competiton pleae click here. For the rules of the Cambridge competition, please click here.