RGS Champions in Nottingham Schools Debating Competition
Four audacious pairs of debaters left RGS at 7.00am last Saturday for a day of Debating in Nottingham. Arrayed against them were 52 teams from the best Debating schools of the Midlands and North, with RGS Newcastle seeking to exert its dominance of the northern circuits further south. The silent question nobody dared to breathe was whether RGS could challenge its RGS Newcastle rival.
The day began positively for our youngest Debating team, consisting of Year Eleven pupils Zach Johnson and Toby Prendergast. They finished a respectable second place in their first-ever competition opening round.
In Round Two, Club President Annabelle Howarth (Upper Sixth) and Lower Sixth student Ellen McGettigan secured a resounding victory over their opponents on whether AI should replace juries for celebrity trials. They then went on to win their final debate in Round Four.
Meanwhile, Lower Sixth students Hannah Agoston and Sasha Penlington gained momentum throughout the tournament and succeeded in winning their last two debates to break into the final twelve teams for the final. This was an incredible achievement, given the number of talented debaters across the competition.
RGS Worcester’s greatest success came later that evening, when Lower Sixth students Isabelle Jones and Joe Kington qualified in first place, sending them into the Gold Final of the top four schools. Rather than just taking this as a win, they strove to gain the ultimate prize, to bring home to Worcester. Despite being outnumbered two-to-one by RGS Newcastle’s teams in the final four, they expertly laid out the case for why volunteering as tribute for the Hunger Games should never be contemplated, to such a compelling extent the other side were left clutching at straws. Nobody in that room was in any doubt about the ultimate victors, and the judges returned swiftly to declare Joe and Isabelle winners of the Nottingham Schools Debating competition 2025. RGS Worcester teams returned south justifiably proud of their performances.
A very well done to our senior debaters!
Mr Aaron Pardoe, Debating Co-ordinator
