A QE team gave a strong performance in the second round of a prestigious debating competition, only narrowly missing out on a place in the regional final.
Mipham Samten and Akshat Sharma, both Year 12 pupils, received positive feedback from the English-Speaking Union adjudicators in the Schools’ Mace competition after proposing the motion: This House would allow upper-rate taxpayers to redirect a significant proportion of their taxes to charities of their choice.
In their debat
e at the event hosted by The St Marylebone CE School, the pair faced girls from Francis Holland School, Sloane Square – the independent school which eventually went on to the West London Regional Final.
Academic Enrichment Tutor and Geography teacher Helen Davies said: “The boys debated very strongly, but unfortunately only one of the six participating teams was able to progress to the next stage.”
The ESU Schools’ Mace is the oldest and largest debating competition for schools in England.
In detailed feedback, the judges said that Akshat had “excellent expression and delivery and had been able to bring in humour – difficult in an economic debate”. They also praised Mipham, saying that he had done well, particularly since he was a deputy, in using “good material”, with a “well-structured and sign-posted speech”.
The judges had stressed that the point of the competition was not necessarily to win the argument, but to present a detailed case and provoke an interesting debate.