It was a privilege to adjudicate the Inter-House Debating Final alongside Mr Cupit this morning.

Wellesley and Lyon produced a high-quality debate with very few obvious weaknesses. The Hauser & Wirth Recital Hall was packed and the debaters made the most of the excellent acoustics to address the audience with confidence and skill. Wellesley proposed the motion that ‘This House believes a GAP year is an exploitative undertaking.’ It could be argued that neither team focused on the word ‘undertaking’ and rather focused more generally on whether GAP years were exploitative per se, but the debate flowed smoothly with cut and thrust from both teams.

The debates were well researched and tactically delivered. Adam (4^th Form) started proceedings confidently, speaking without notes, to set out Lyon’s position while Grace (3^rd Form) replied with focus and control. It was obvious that the standard of debating in this final was going to be high, as Amelia (L6^th Form) and Joe (5^th Form) proceeded to debate with passion and skill. Laila (L6^th Form) and Isaac (U6^th Form) both showed their experience and intellect in concluding sensibly.

The motion allowed both teams to develop their debating style and strategy and the audience were enthralled by the debate. Both teams were judged to have performed equally well in content and style, receiving 23 points each and 13 points each respectively. However, Lyon were slightly stronger in managing the Points of Information, rebuttals and time-keeping, with Isaac, showing his experience and poise to conclude very effectively in his last school debate. So, Lyon won the Inter-House Debating as they were awarded 9/10 for strategy against 8/10 for Wellesley. The high overall marks (45/50 for Lyon, 44/50 for Wellesley) indicate the closeness and the quality of the debate.

Well done to both teams, and a final thanks to Isaac for his 5 years of outstanding service to Inter-House Debating.

Ian Wilmshurst - Headmaster

Flickr album: Inter0House Debating Final - 14th March 2022 | Height: auto | Theme: Default | Skin: Default Skin