On Monday 7th November, six keen Year 9 debaters attended a day of workshops and practice debates at UCL.

Whilst it was initially a little disappointing to find that we were one of only two schools attending, this turned out to be a great advantage in terms of the level of individual attention offered. The girls attended workshops on Argumentation and Current Affairs, then after lunch and a rather chilly tour of the campus, put their newly learnt skills into practice in two British Parliamentary style debates. The motions were ‘This house would ban children’s beauty pageants’ and ‘This house regrets the UK and USA’s decision to conduct airstrikes in Syria.’ All the girls spoke with confidence, clarity and increasingly detailed analysis and were expertly judged by the president of the UCL debating union.