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Cobham Hall School Website: Cobham Hall in the News
76 teams from all corners of the UK and beyond, went head to head during a day of four debates, in which each team and each speaker were graded by university undergraduate debaters. The debates were challenging, including motions such as ‘Liberal democracies should ban extremist political parties’ and ‘Western governments should not interfere in the affairs of developing countries’! Teams had only 15 minutes to prepare for each round, with no help from coaches! In the evening, the four best teams debated for the ultimate final, which was won by Leeds Grammar School.
Cobham Hall came 40th, although our Speakers ranked much higher. They beat teams representing Canada and the Republic of Ireland as well as schools such as Winchester, St. Paul’s Girls, City of London Boys and Oundle.
It was a wonderful experience.
Tara and Elizabeth won through to the finals by being placed in the top ten at the regional round of the International Young Debaters competition earlier in the year. Fifty six teams from twenty five schools competed. They had been given a week’s notice of the topic for the first debate: Banning Space Exploration Programmes. The motions for the three following debates were only revealed 15 minutes before each debate started. They were: EFL Provision in Schools; National Military Service, and Compulsory Blood Donation! Not easy!
Each performance was judged by Cambridge University student debaters.
Tara and Elizabeth also won the regional round of the English Speaking Union’s Mace Debating Competition. Although they are Year 10 students, they beat Sixth Form teams from Sevenoaks School, King’s Rochester, Wilmington Boys’ Grammar and Gravesend Girls Grammar!
Their performances were spectacular! They worked perfectly as a team, making strong and engaging speeches on the motion 'Social networking websites should never have been invented!' During the debate each team interrupts the speeches of the opposing team to offer ‘points of information’. Elizabeth and Tara demonstrated excellent skill in making and responding to points of information. They deserve high praise and our best wishes for success in the next round of the competition.
Cobham's second debating team also did well at the Cambridge University Union. Sophia Kosti & Chantelle Roles -well supported by their friends in Group 4 - competed in four separate debates, each with eight speakers. They gained amongst the top marks for the whole day in their debate on National Service.
Sophia Kosti, Sydney Nash and Elizabeth Panton have also represented the school at the regional round of the ESU Public Speaking Competition. Their contributions were lively, interesting and delivered with flair, only narrowly missing out on the top prize. Particular congratulations go to Sydney Nash, our Chair, who displayed charm and enthusiasm, although she had only one day to prepare. Well done to all three girls.
Cobham Hall can be justly proud of all these achievements and I congratulate our splendid Debaters and Public Speakers.
Dr Josephine Payne Cobham Hall Debating
Cobham Hall encourages girls throughout school to try debating and public speaking, organising in-school debates and entering local and national competitions organised by the English Speaking Union and Cambridge University. |
