With the support of Mrs Robinson; newly-appointed Patron Mr Holmes; Sam; Ghazaleh; Chris; Kaisa (apologies if misspelt!); and myself, our compeititon finalists James and David headed for the Oxford Union Society yesterday for the most challenging day - by far - of their debating careers. No one was optimistic. James was convinced that they would receive four last places...in fact, they received only one.
In their first debate they bagged second place, beating notorious Winchester and Bradford Grammar. Throughout the day they'd go on to beat Guildford High and Westcliffe too. These are all private schools whose curriculums include debating for students of even a young age. James and David have been debating for less than two years. What a feat to be able to debate at the Oxford Union without the years of practice usually expected!
One of the greatest things for me as a spectator to see was how little there was in it between our own Society members and the private school debaters. Plus, the judges in each debate gave some fantastic feedback that will prove useful for the Society's standard to continue to progress as it has. Consistency; bringing new material in one's speech; clear definition of the motion; making the expansion speech interesting; prioritisation; and identifying clash in the summaries are all things that we can work on in the future.
David even spoke in a floor debate in the Oxford Union debating chambers! That's something fantastic to be able to say you've done. There were moments when we were on the edges of our seats, and moments when we had to step back and remember just where we were and how amazing it was that we were there.
There'll be more information on the debates on our website and at the Society meeting on Thursday.
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