Junior House Debating Final - Summer Term 2020

Mr Mackridge reports on a hotly contested final adjudicated by Jonah Surkes.

Not a competition to be stopped by this Summer Term in remote, the prestigious Junior House Debating final took place in remote on Thursday 18th June.

The Grove (proposition) faced off against Severn Hill (opposition) over the compelling motion.

"This house believes the age of globalisation has done more harm than good."

The opening round of impassioned speeches were delivered by Sapna Chudasama and Ryan Mupesa and duly set the bar high for a top-quality debate in front of a sizable (remote) audience.

Daisy Scott and Sam Unsworth extended the cases for both proposition and opposition before Eva Hall and Felix Kershaw wrapped up the opening rounds of verbal sparring. Superb summaries were delivered by Sapna and Sam before the final nerve-wracking call was made by our esteemed, independent judge.

We were delighted to welcome Jonah Surkes, President of the internationally renowned Cambridge Union in 2018, to adjudicate the result and he was kind enough to provide detailed, extensive feedback to each participant.

Having hosted the likes of Bernie Sanders and Piers Morgan at the Cambridge Union, Jonah was complimentary about the standard of debating on show in this hotly contested final!

Following feedback, Jonah duly announced this year's Junior House Debating victors - The Grove!

Many congratulations to The Grove team and well done to Severn Hill for their impressive showing throughout the competition.

It was great to witness both teams so well engaged in the art of Debating in remote and a great reminder of the competitiveness and energy associated with the Shrewsbury house competitions.