ISA Debate Competition 2023

Three talented Sixth Form students, Millie, Rio and Harriet, took on a verbal battle at the weekend at the national ISA Debate Competition in Ascot.

The first of three debates was on whether Britain should pay for its colonial past, which our team opposed.  Richard Duckett, Debating Matters club co-leader (alongside David Hammond) and Deputy Head of Sixth Form, commented, “This was a very high level debate, with a very strong opposition.  The team was very surprised to win it, and it was a very close call, but what a great start to the day.  I am very proud of the team for this win, where they set a very high standard.”

The second debate was on the effectiveness of prisons.  Although the team researched it well, they found it challenging to debate it to the standard they had shown in the first debate, and we narrowly lost, by only two points.

The third debate was on whether or not AI has gone too far with our group arguing that it has.  Richard explained, “The team raised their game back to the quality of their initial round, again against a tough opposition  of Cardiff Sixth Form who beat us last year and adopted a significantly aggressive/offensive style this year.  Unintimidated, Team LP put in a sterling effort and managed to claim the win, much to Cardiff’s disappointment.”

Millie reflected,”The most enjoyable part of the experience was the pressure and excitement of debates with only 30 minutes preparation time. If you are considering joining the team I would say go and give it a try! Nothing bad can happen and the experience is always worth it.”

Richard continued, “The public speaking part of the day takes so much courage and Harriet really stepped up.  They abandoned the dais and had a commanding presence on the stage instead.  They read their poem brilliantly, and added their personal part afterwards to powerful effect.  They really deserved the recognition they got, even though there was only supposed to be one award for this category; a shame not to win, but to have a new certificate made specially shows how strongly the judges felt that they should get commended.”

Harriet also won an individual award, for impressing the judges with their clarity of communication, in each of the debates. “I really enjoyed the competition and loved the new experience of public speaking.” they said, “It makes your heart beat so fast! I would say come and give it a go if you’re curious…you might love it!”

Richard concluded, “This was the third time we have entered an LP team in the ISA Debate Competition and it has been a fabulous experience each time.  The students have got so much out of it, but especially in terms of organising their thoughts and the confidence to use them effectively in dialogue with others (for others, read ‘strangers’).  We are really proud of the 2023 LP team for some really brave personal performances, pushing their comfort zones and getting stuck in to some high level debating.  Looking forward to our next one, the European Youth Parliament in February!”