Senior House Debating Final

James Sinclair, Teacher of Classics, reports on the final round of this year’s Senior Inter-House Debating Competition:

On Monday 28^th November, the Olivier Hall was centre stage for the grand finale of the Sixth Form Inter-House Debating competition 2022. The stakes were incredibly high for both Houses who had reached this stage: Cowell’s and Oakthorpe. To advance to the Finals of the competition, each team needed to win their first-round matches, quarter-final debates and semi-final debates. This process began in mid-September, so the Finals represented the culmination of many months of debating success. 

The motion before the floor was ‘This House supports the abolition of the House of Lords.’ Cowell’s proposed the motion, whilst Oakthorpe opposed it. Cowell’s first speaker was Elombe Case, second speaker was Konstantin Girst and summariser Patrick Maxwell. Oakthorpe’s first speaker was Hero Forshaw, second speaker Eva Lamb, and summariser Elise Rance. Adriane Yeung of Corfe House chaired the debate with flair and conviction. I was delighted to be joined in the judging panel not only by Mr Tyer, who has co-judged with me since the beginning of the competition, but also on this occasion by Mr Vaughan-Fowler and by the Warden.

Cowell’s speakers cogently argued the merits of abandoning the House of Lords, due to its manifold layers of corruption and inefficiency. They highlighted the arcane, archaic structures of the Second Chamber, with its opaque procedures and limited accountability. These points were rebutted with equal force by Oakthorpe’s speakers. The Oakthorpe team argued that it was essential to maintain the House of Lords in order to safeguard the primacy of the House of Commons, as well as suggesting that the issue of corruption was not unique to the Second Chamber. 

Both teams commanded the Olivier with their clarity of communication and authority of logical argument. They had clearly invested considerable time and effort into ensuring that their side stood the best possible chance to come out as victors.

Emotions were running high, as Mr Tyer, Mr Vaughan-Fowler, the Warden and I retired to Willows to adjudicate on the final outcome of the competition. It was a rigorous, intensive scrutiny of the merits of each side, in accordance with the markscheme utilised in every round of the competition.

Ultimately, there could only be one winning team of the competition. Oakthorpe are the 2022 debating champions, for the second year in a row after triumphing in the 2021 competition. Many congratulations to both Houses, as well as to all debating teams, for their fantastic contributions over the course of the term.

As the Warden stated when announcing the final outcome of the competition, the real winner of the competition is school debating. There has never been such a buzz around the topic of debating at St Edward’s; and I look forward to the Junior Competition in the Spring Term, as well as a number of debating fixtures against rival schools. 

In ancient Athenian democracy, the Athenians cherished a key concept, which they gifted the world:This translates as “freedom of speech”. It is pleasing to see this value thriving at Teddies well into the 21^st century.