Brackenfield School recently competed against St Helen’s College, London, both Forfar Education Schools, in a fiercely contested inter-school debating final. The motion was “If children ran the world, it would be a better place.”
Brackenfield School recently competed against St Helen’s College, London in a fiercely contested inter-school Forfar Debating online competition. The motion “If children ran the world, it would be a better place.” elicited compelling and persuasive arguments from both schools.
Ten schools from the Forfar Education group across the UK participated in the competition. The final was chaired by Mrs Jo Storey, Country Director UK at Forfar Education and judged by Mrs Jessica Miles, Head of Badminton School, Mrs Caroline Wethey, a retired CoEd Preparatory School Head and Mr Alex Brough, Assistant Director of Education at Forfar Education.
Whilst St Helen’s were the ultimate winners, the judges commented on both teams outstanding depth of understanding of the current affairs, their extensive research of the motion and their excellent teamwork, all of which was demonstrated whilst each side presented their argument and were subsequently questioned by their opponents and the judges.
Mr Joe Masterson, Headmaster of Brackenfield School commented:
Children running the world was always going to be a difficult motion to win! However, our pupils were fantastic showing an understanding of the world way beyond their years. Having enjoyed the whole debate I really couldn’t think of anything better they could have done. Well done to Aoife, Eva, Levi and Rory and their expert teacher, Mr Jenkins. Being recent winners of the Forfar Debating competition, we were just delighted as a school to be finalists again, and now we say well done to St Helens.
Mrs Storey from Forfar Education initiated and chaired the competition as an opportunity for pupils to connect across the Forfar community and to support ongoing collaboration.
Mrs Storey said:
Events like the Forfar Debating Competition do far more than crown a winner, they bring our schools together and give pupils the opportunity to develop confidence, critical thinking and the ability to articulate and challenge ideas thoughtfully.
