By Mrs Lincoln (English and Psychology Teacher)

BGS have again entered the English Speaking Union Schools’ Mace this year, one of the oldest and largest debating competitions for secondary schools in England and Wales. On the evening of Wednesday 5th November, we hosted the first round here in the Assembly Hall with teams from five other local schools joining us to compete.

Our team from Bedford Girls’ School consisted of Miya Ladher (Year 10), Nicole Lapis (Lower Sixth) and Haniya Saleem (Year 11). They debated against a team from Redborne Upper School, arguing for the banning of short-haul domestic flights where transport alternatives exist. The girls worked brilliantly as a team and made some excellent arguments, rebuttals and summary speeches. It was also a pleasure to see other students from BGS willing to get involved with chair and timekeeper duties – a big thank you goes to Lily Deng (Upper Sixth) and Karin Saedi (Year 10).

Despite some fierce competition, we’re proud to say that Bedford Girls’ School were one of three schools to make it through to the next round of the competition. The girls got some useful individual feedback and pointers from the judges, which they can take forward with them to the next round.

We now look forward to the round two heats, scheduled to take place in January!