There were two notable debating successes this week: Zarah Drummond and Sara Sullivan qualified for the national finals of the Oxford Schools Debating competition, which will take place at the Oxford Union in March.

A few days later, they saw off tough competition from five other schools (including Francis Holland, Regent’s Park) to get through to the third round of the ESU Mace competition, the largest and most prestigious UK competition for prepared debating. They successfully opposed the motion ‘This house would allow higher rate taxpayers to direct a significant portion of their tax to charities of their choice.’