On Wednesday 29th March, the last day of Spring Term 2023, we held a long-anticipated event, our Inter-House Debating Finals.

The entirety of our FHS community gathered in the Ivor Place Hall with a palpable sense of excitement for what we knew would be an impassioned and enthralling debate. Alongside our very own Mr Anderson and Miss Willis, we were honoured to welcome an expert guest, His Honour, Judge Godrey, who also delivered a fascinating talk on the benefits of debating in so many aspects of our pupils’ lives.

Lower Fifths Amira and Orielle, our first team, presented an engaging and articulate case for the positive impacts of AI in today’s society, while Amber and Lara, also in the Lower Fifth presented a powerful rebuttal. Our debaters also all evidenced their creativity, dynamic thinking and excellent subject knowledge when tackling a number of challenging questions from audience members of all ages.

All four of our contestants must all be commended for truly outstanding performances, but eventually it was Amber and Lara who were crowned victorious, with Amber being awarded best individual performance.

Thank you to our Head of Debating, Mr Strathdene, for organising this amazing event, and to our two wonderful Sixth Form compères, Keya and Nila, who have recently won a London-wide debating competition themselves!