Tuesday 18^th October, 2005 – Debating Matters

This was the first round a very different type of national debating competition, with the debaters being quizzed by expert judges on what they had said and then by the floor. A strong performance by debutants Simon Stone and Louise Flower saw them defeat a well prepared team from the Holt School and pass Wallington through to the round final, with the prize a trip to the Regional Finals at the Syngenta Headquarters at Bracknell. In the end, Godalming School defeated William Stuart and Duncan Coleman, although the Wallington side definitely won over at least one of the three judges with their ‘wit, passion and conviction.’ All the students enjoyed the chance to try a new style of debate, albeit one that really stretched them to understand and support their arguments in a way not always tested in traditional, British Parliamentary debate.

Opposition	Motion	WCGS Debaters	Result
The Holt School	‘Reducing Pollution should be society’s top priority’ (WGCS proposed)	Louise Flower Simon Stone	Won
Godalming College	‘The Media has lowered the level of public debate’ (WCGS opposed)	William Stuart Duncan Coleman	Lost 2-1

Mr. McKean, 19/10/05

Saturday 1^st October, 2005 – Northern Junior Debating Competition

Our most distant debating destination so far, Newcastle Royal Grammar School were the hosts for an early season ‘British Parliamentary’ debating competition for U16’s. The competition brought together 48 teams from around twenty schools from all over the country: they ranged from Aberdeen Grammar to Tunbridge Wells Girls Grammar. Our six debaters included a mix of competition novices and the more experienced, and so the three hour train ride north gave some chance to assemble points for a first debate on whether to introduce ID cards. All the teams took part in three debates of four teams each, with the teams being power-grouped (matched together with others of a similar standard) as the competition progressed.

The three debates were as follows:

1)      This House would introduce compulsory ID cards

2)      This House would ban advertising aimed at children

3)      This House would legalise euthanasia

All in all, this represented lots of good experience for all the students, especially the four who had not participated in a competition like this before – and everyone placed remarkably close, around half-way up the field. The stars of the show were the novice ‘C’ team of Bruce Rothberg and Stephen Bailey, who began with a first and a second and ended up in a ‘break’ room for the final debate – in other words, one more win would have taken them into the final. However, they met their met their match in competition winners Newcastle RGS ‘A’ and had to be content with a third. Nonetheless, their placing of 14^th overall was a considerable achievement in their first competition – and bearing in mind that they are both at least one year young at this stage.

Team	Overall Team position (/48)	Speakers	Speaker positions (/96)
Wallington C	14th	Bruce Rothberg	39=
		Stephen Bailey	56=
Wallington A	20th	James Barnett	43=
		Dominic Lynch	43=
Wallington B	35th	Edward Henderson	52=
		Karl Cottle	59=

Mr. McKean 05/10/05

Saturday 24^th September, 2005 – Dulwich Schools Debating Competition

Five Wallington students – and Mr. McKean - took a trip to Dulwich College on Saturday to participate in the Dulwich Schools Debating Competition. With the England Debate team selectors present, the standard of competition was always going to be high and the boys also had to get used to the unique ‘World Schools’ style, which they had not met in competition before. However, it was a good chance to get used to debating again after the summer break – and also the first opportunity for the school team, present and future, to work together. The WCGS team lost their first two debates, against the competition winners Westminster School and to a narrow split decision against James Allen Girls, but were pleased to come back to win their final debate against Cheney School, Oxford. This gave us an overall placing of 17^th. Despite the tough competition, the team made considerable progress over the course of the day, and are looking forward to their next chance to represent the school. Particularly given that three of our team were ‘under age’ for the competition, they gave a very good account of themselves against some of the best young debaters in the country.

Opposition	Motion	Result
Westminster School	This House prefers lower taxes to extensive government services (WCGS proposing)	Lost 0-3
James Allen Girls	This House would remove the right to strike (WCGS opposing)	Lost 1-2
Cheney School	This House does not see the death penalty as a bar to extradition (WCGS opposing)	Won 2-1

WCGS team:            William Stuart (c), Raza Naeem, Jaimie Henry, James Barnett, Dominic Lynch

                                                                                    Mr. McKean, 30/09/05