Saturday 7th December 2019
Successful first round for Stamford at ESU Debating Mace
Debating teams from Stamford School and Stamford High School have been successful in the first round of the prestigious English-Speaking Union (ESU) Schools’ Debating Mace, which was hosted at Stamford School last week. Both teams qualified to go forward to the second round of the competition, held at the end of January.The first round of the competition included teams from Oundle, Oakham and Leicester Grammar School, alongside the two Stamford teams.The Stamford School team, Ryan Spall, Year 13, Harry Laventure and Oliver Fraser, both Year 12, proposed the topical motion ‘This House would limit each person to one return flight per year’. The Stamford High School team was composed of three Year 11 students, Olivia Cross, Ellie Henry and Kitty Henderson They proposed the motion ‘This House would make voting compulsory’, ultimately debating against a swing team of Year 10 boys from Stamford School, who stepped in at the last minute to replace a School that unfortunately had to pull out.The ESU adjudicator, Faith Cosgrove, commented on how she was impressed by the overall standard of debating, and provided each of the teams with valuable feedback and advice for the next round.Mrs Karen Leetch, Stamford School’s debating coach, said: “It has been so good to see both Schools going through to the next round this year.“I was particularly impressed by the Year 10 swing team, made up of Max Halden, Toby Dalrymple and Ellis Wren, who prepared their debate the night before and rose to the challenge magnificently!”