On Friday 4th April, the whole school gathered to question whether men and women should compete in sport together as equals.
Authors Isabelle Duncan and Bill Colegrave came to Francis Holland School to judge a debate in front of the whole school.
Isabelle is a cricketer, coach, BBC Radio commentator and sits on the Committee at the M.C.C., as well as having an illustrious career as a cricketer often captaining male teams. Bill is a travel writer and himself reached the Final of the worlds largest debating competition, the ESU MACE, so is an experienced debater.
Izzie & Eleni (Upper Fifth) argued the case for the Proposition, with Bella (Upper Fifth) & Tegan (Lower Fifth) in Opposition. As with all the best debates, the tough questions from the Floor fuelled the speakers passion, and we were treated to an exceptional contest. Former school debating champions Nula and Scarlett were amongst the dozen or so girls to put the summary speakers to task.
After the Debate our Chairperson, Eva (Lower Sixth), who has been Senior Debating Captain this year, conducted a floor vote, which came out just in favour of the opposition. The Junior Debating Captain, Claudia (Lower Fourth), who acted as the Debates Timekeeper, brilliantly supported Eva. Then it was the turn of our judges to take to the stage!
Bill and Isabelle told us something of their own experiences with debating Bill shared an anecdote about finding confidence from nowhere when speaking to hundreds at the Royal Geographical Society, and Isabelle told us something of the challenges of often being the only woman in a boardroom making decisions for the benefit of women.
Our judges were full of praise for all our brave speakers, but on the occasion it was Izzie and Eleni who triumphed and received the Debating Spoon prize. Our judges gave all girls involved signed copies of their books and for our school library, too. We are extremely grateful to them for their generosity of time and advice for life.
