Success in Debating at National Level
As the Debating season of 2022-23 draws to a close, we are pleased to report a busy and successful Half term of Debating and Public Speaking.
On Thursday 2 March, Katherine McCabe, Samuel Taylor, and Helena Stockford Parsons competed in the ESU Mace Regional Final at Hereford Cathedral School. Although they did not progress to the next round, the team performed very well in a long evening of Debating.
RGS Worcester hosted the ESU Performing Shakespeare competition on Thursday 9 March, welcoming schools from across the West Midlands. We would like to extend a special thank you to Teacher of English, Mrs Hannah Bone, who coordinated the event and trained Henry Lee and Ridhima Canchi. Both students progressed to the Regional Final of the competition.
On Saturday 11 March, RGS Debaters travelled with their coach to Oxford and competed in four rounds of debating at Oxford Finals Day. Year Eleven students, Katherine McCabe, and Annabelle Howarth did themselves proud, Debating against teams from all over the world, including Westminster School and Eton College. It was an immense achievement for them to progress to Finals Day in the first place. They also finished second in Round 4, adding another feather to their Debating cap.
Tobey Butler, Rayyan Styles, Oscar Haynes, and William Hulbert travelled to Cambridge Union Schools Debating Competition, one of the biggest schools Debating competitions in the world! The competition was even more intense than at the Oxford Finals Day, and both teams impressed across four rounds of Debating in another long day. They either won or finished second in at least one of their Debates, and a particular highlight was Tobey and Rayyan beating two international teams (Shanghai and Zimbabwe) in Round 4, ultimately helping them achieve a top half finish.
Oscar Haynes wrote the following, “This Half-term, the RGS Debating Society has seen massive success in two international competitions. On 11th March, one RGS team competed in Oxford Finals Day, and more recently on 18th March, two RGS teams took part in the prestigious Cambridge Finals Day.
Myself and Will Hulbert (who Debated in Callum Lockett’s stead due to illness. Callum qualified for both Oxford and Cambridge competitions), alongside Tobey Butler and Rayyan Styles, gave strong performances throughout Finals Day. Will Hulbert, despite short notice, impressed by finishing 16th among the novice speakers. Qualifying itself is impressive and both teams finished on strong points against teams from all over the world.
At the competition, held in the historic Cambridge Union, motions ranged from questioning the benefits of the corporate sponsorship of academic studies, to the challenges of social media and responsible advice. These all challenged our talented debaters and pushed them to all achieve incredibly good results on Finals Day. Myself and Will remained undefeated throughout the competition despite failing to qualify for the Semi finals of the competition. Rayyan and Tobey ended the competition strongly, finishing 1st and 2nd in two of their Debates.
Both teams gave a strong showing on Finals Day and were excellent representatives of the school. RGS will be hoping to qualify for this prestigious event next year, having been encouraged by another impressive performance at an international event”.
As the season comes to a close, we are proud of all our Debaters and Public Speakers and congratulate them on their performance and contribution this Half term.