2016 Debating Championships

Once again, this year two of the 2016/17 IB Diploma from Coleg Llandrillo students entered the Wales Schools Debating Championships, sponsored by Julian Hodge Bank. Debating can help learners of all ages and abilities to develop a number of important skills. These include the ability to work as a team, to reason logically, to understand both sides of an argument, and to speak engagingly and convincingly.

Keziah Lewin and Morgan Hogan attended the Masterclass hosted at Bangor University to hone their debating skills before receiving their proposition debate topic: This House does not believe in zero hour contracts. Over the course of a week they researched and prepared themselves for the North Wales debate being hosted in Bangor.

On October 6^th they arrived at Ysgol Tryfan in Bangor ready to face their opposition Ysgol Eirias. Opening was Morgan, who confidently outlined the problems and concerns of zero hour contracts. The adjudicators commended her for her ‘outstanding debating’ skills and her composed rebuttals of Points of Interest and competent knowledge from Forbes etc, as evidence in support of her argument. Keziah followed up, articulating effectively the dangers posed by these contracts and querying why the opposition would choose to focus on big businesses rather than those individuals who suffered at the hands of these corporations. In summation Morgan asked the judges, the audience and the chairperson to consider the human rights infringements that zero hour contracts posed as well as the effects on mental health.

Both Keziah and Morgan were commended for their contribution to the North West Wales Heat and now have the opportunity to apply for a place in the Worlds Debating Team.

We hope in the not so distant future, we will also see the inaugural Inter-College Debate in preparation for future CEWC Debates.