By Mrs Lincoln (English and Psychology Teacher)

After a successful first round in November, we headed to Redborne Upper School this week for the second round of the English Speaking Union Schools’ Mace, one of the oldest and largest debating competitions for secondary schools in England and Wales.

The first two debates covered a range of engaging and topical arguments, including whether tech companies should be held liable for poor mental health and whether climate change protests that disrupt daily life can ever be justified. Our team (Hania – Lower Sixth, Nicole – Lower Sixth and Miya - Year 10) closed the evening, arguing the proposition for the motion ‘This house believes that modern politics does not represent the interests of young people.’  Miya opened the debate with an outline of how older citizens are over-represented and voting systems make it harder for the younger generation to get involved. Nicole then spoke about the outdated methods parties in power use, as well as mentioning the issues of under-representation in politics on a more global scale. Finally, Hania took on the role of summary speaker, responding to questions from the floor and summarising the entire argument.

Only two schools out of six made it through to the regional finals and unfortunately Watling Academy and Redborne Upper School edged the victory. Despite this, the girls received lots of praise from the judges and got to witness an excellent night of debating. We hope to see them compete again next year!