Lancaster University Schools Debating Competition November 16th 2024

The school’s debating season got off to a flying start last weekend, when seven of our debating teams competed against a range of schools from the North of England at Lancaster University’s Annual Schools Debating Competition. This was the first debating competition of the year, and for these students their first ever competition, so our success was remarkable. India Harding in Year 10 achieved one of the highest individual speaker scores across all debates. And the team made up of Ella Goodman and Jess Bell in Year 12 made the break for the Silver Final, competing against the other top 8 teams for the title. Other teams made up of Saleha Hashemi & Samrrudhi Nithyanandan in Year 9, Georgia Holmes & Maiko Fairbrother in Year 10, Sufyaan Farid & Matthew Klopper in Year 12, Sourish Chanda & Jaden Chiu in Year 9, and Dan Johnson & Dilara Gencer in Year 12 and 9 respectively, scored an impressive number of points between them, beating some experienced teams from other schools, debating topics as wide ranging as University Selection and Social Media Trends. A big thank you to our Head-teacher Mr Beeley for driving us up to Lancaster: it was a long day, but a very rewarding experience, promising well for the future of debating at Wellington.

Mr Ahern & Mr Murphy