Talk the talk
Claremont High School’s Debate Club prove their mental agility and verbal dexterity in two recent competitions
The lights were burning bright at Claremont High School in mid-November as the Debate Club talked late into the night to participate in the English Speaking Union’s Churchill Public Speaking Competition. The two teams of Year 11 students were: Karan Chauhan 11.8 (Chair), Leah Tunbridge 11.2 (Speaker) and Vidya Naker 11.2 (Questioner); and Lamya Akasha 11.7 (Chair), Hannah Barrios 11.7 (Speaker) and Naureen Khan 11.6 (Questioner).
Mr West, who leads the Debate Club, explains the format of the competition: ‘You swap Speaker with another team and then the Chair and Questioner introduce them and lead them in an interview following their speech. The schools we were paired with were Harrow School for Boys and Burntwood School from Wandsworth - the latter was a last-minute substitution by the ESU. The other school competing was St Helen's Girls School from Northwood.’
It was a night of equal celebration and commiseration.
‘Our teams did us proud,’ says Mr West, ‘and Karan, Leah and Vidya were among four of eight teams selected for the next round, alongside the teams from Harrow Boy's and St Helen’s. We were told that it was a close call not to advance our other squad, but "them's the breaks"!’
But there was no time for the Debate Club to enjoy their victory as the next day another team - Maryam Abdur-Rahman 13.6, Nicole Hibberd 13.6 and Tyler Giddings-Crocker 13.7 – took part in the English Speaking Union's School's Mace Competition, the UK's largest and longest-running debate competition. It was hosted by Harrow Boy's School in their War Memorial Building. Kanha Solanki 12.1 joined the team as first substitute.
Mr West gives a ring-side account: ‘Claremont's motion was, "This House Would ban relationship and dating-based reality TV", which they were drawn to propose. They performed incredibly, meeting righteous anger (Maryam and Nicole) with cutting humour (Tyler). Everyone had an enjoyable night and the audience agreed that Claremont were among the most entertaining public speakers at the event.
‘However, they faced stiff competition from the likes of Harrow, St Helen's and Kingsbury High and, unfortunately, the judges did not qualify them to advance to the next round. Regardless, there were no regrets at the end of the evening and the team parted ways in high spirits!’
Taking part in the competitions is a real test of the participants’ mental agility, verbal dexterity and stamina, as Mr West explains: ‘Both English Speaking Union competitions are challenging because, although they allow about two weeks for preparation, the judges care deeply about the students’ ability to listen to the other competitors and shape their arguments and speeches reactively. This requires active listening, on-the-spot thinking and the confidence to break one's own script to improvise a specific response.’
The students clearly gained a lot from the experience…
‘It was rather entertaining to experience many different debating styles and judgements,’ says Maryam. ‘As much as it was challenging, it was rewarding to be able to perform a speech in front of a crowd of debaters of different skill levels. Debating is a subjective sport, where a motion can go either way. This taught us resilience in the face of bias and injustice. We retained our feedback and plan to apply it to future debates and competitions.’
‘It was a liberating experience and an amazing opportunity to challenge your confidence and abilities,’ adds Leah. ‘It was definitely challenging to come up with a speech, especially not knowing what other schools were going to do, or just learning how the competition was run, this being my first time. But with determination we got through! A lot was learnt - having to research and formulate a speech on a specific thesis, question or work of art is always a learning experience - but aside from the speech itself, I learnt how to work well as a team, how to listen attentively to others and how public-speaking competitions are run.’
‘It was a challenging but fruitful experience, which gave me a lot of exposure to the world of public speaking,’ concludes Naureen. ‘I learnt about the importance of using eloquent language and learnt to face my fear of speaking in front of people I don’t know!’
Mr West is convinced that the experience is a rewarding one for all involved: ‘The students really benefit from matching their skills against pupils from local independent schools. They always come away emboldened and more confident, even if they’re not successful in the competition. I think this is because they can see first-hand that their abilities are no different from those of anyone else their age, regardless of the different opportunities that their competitors may have had.’
The Debate Club are already preparing for their next challenge… Coming up after Christmas are the Oxford University Schools’ Competition, Cambridge University Schools’ Competition and the Dr Nehru Cup Invitational at Harrow Boy's.
‘We look forward to next year's competitions!’ Mr West declares proudly.