Uxbridge College’s debating team is on its way to the regional finals in a national competition.
The team of four students won debates against two independent schools and will now represent Harrow region in the next stage of the competition.
They debated in the initial heats against Swaminaryan School in Neasden, where the event took place, with the motion ‘Gentrication is good for neighbourhoods’. After winning that round they went on to compete against a second independent school, The John Lyon School in Harrow, debating ‘a secular society should not prevent people from acting on their beliefs’.
As well as winning the two rounds, the team was also honoured with our student Ciaran Martin winning the Best Performer of the Night Award. The other team members were Rhema Thomas Johnson, Rhiannon Harradine, and David Kinane. They were also supported by Marcus Davenport who assisted with research on the debate topics in preparation. Marcus also asked questions from the audience on the night, as did Juan Vargas–Ferreira.
The team will now go through to regional finals at the Barbican Centre on 16 March 2016.
Suba Dickerson, Head of Learning Resources at Uxbridge College and the debating team coach, said: “The team have worked really hard researching their topics. They were asked extremely difficult questions by three eminent judges who came from the field of commerce and industry. The judges stated they were really impressed by the eloquence and knowledge of our students. They should be very proud of their performance.”
The Debating Matters competition is run by the Institute of Ideas supported by the Wellcome Trust.