On Thursday 9th March, Miss Wood and Mr Dhansey took 18 Eastbrook Students with them to the second round of the Urban Debating League. This event was hosted at Sydney Russell school, acting as a follow up to the first round which Eastbrook hosted on the 26th January.

When we arrived at Sydney Russell on Thursday, we were greeted by the host school and the motion for the first debate was read out: ‘This house would ban under 16’s from participating in professional sports”. Almost Immediately, Eastbrook split in to three teams and began discussing ideas relating to this topic. All three teams worked together to organise their arguments and to decide the order of the speakers. As with every debate, students who were not speaking worked to come up with ‘floor questions’ to challenge the other team and interrogate their lines of argument. At the end of the first debates, results were mixed with some of our teams leaving with a win and others loosing out.

The second round began after a brief break. This time, students ended up in debates about social media, discussing the impact and dangers of viral trends and videos. Two of our year 7 students displayed great sportsmanship as they volunteered to merge with Sydney Russell students and form a ‘swing team’. Volunteering to do this, meant that all students at the event could participate in a debate and win points for their school. Again, at the end of the round results were mixed, but all students left their competitors with a smile and a handshake.

For each of their debates, students are marked on their use of structure (how they organise their ideas), style (their confidence and delivery), content (having original and relevant ideas) and sportsmanship (how polite they are). Students’ points from both rounds will be totaled and combined to give Eastbrook an overall score and ranking within the London league. These results will be announced next week, and whether we place first or last, our students should certainly be PROUD of their efforts at Thursday’s Debate. It was a fantastic evening, with fun had by all!

Miss Wood