News

8 December 2009

OXFORD DEBATING WORKSHOP

Our Year 12 debating teams took part last night in a workshop run by two Oxford debaters at Stroud High School.

This will help us prepare for the Oxford Schools Debating Competition,the first round of which takes place in February. The Oxford Competition differs only very sightly in their rules but the most nail-biting difference 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.

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.