News A bumper couple of weeks for Godolphin debaters 04.03.2021

It has been a bumper couple of weeks for Godolphin debaters.

Godolphin debaters from Years 10, 11 and the Sixth Form took part in the prestigious Cambridge Schools’ Debating Competition during half-term. The motions included:

• This house would not grant employers access to applicants’ criminal records
• This house would pay spouses to stay at home
• This house believes that sporting teams should be owned by their fans
• This house would not become a superhero

Congratulations to Ruby and Daisy in the Lower Sixth and Maria in Upper Sixth who were our highest-scoring speakers in the competition. Debates with KCS Wimbledon, Francis Holland NW1 and Sierra Canyon, LA are planned for the coming weeks.

At the end of February, debaters in Years 7 and 8 took on Oak House School in Barcelona. They won both their debates, discussing the banning of competitive sports and limiting people to one international return flight a year. A few days later, students from Year 9 and Year 11 took part in the London Online Middle School Debating Competition, set up and run by Mr Bell. Debaters had fifteen minutes to prepare speeches on introducing Covid vaccine passports, and whether or not ‘no-platforming’ in schools and universities is ever justified. Both teams qualified for the final due to take place on 17th March.

Finally, having won their first round match in the ESU debating competition, the Year 10 team progressed to the West London Final in a match against Harrow on the motion ‘This house believes that national health decisions should be made by a panel of scientific experts, rather than the Government.’ All the team performed admirably, but sadly they did not progress in the competition. Godolphin student Sophia said, ‘Despite the loss, we had a lot of fun and learnt plenty about debating in high pressure environments. Harrow performed very well and deserved to win—but we have our eyes on the prize for next year!’.