Two local students from neighbouring schools have been crowned debating team champions in a competition organised by the Member of Parliament for Wealden District, Charles Hendry M. P.
Constance O’Conor of St Leonards-Mayfield School and Helena Dollimore of Heathfield Community College were paired in the three knock-out rounds. In their journey to the final, the two girls debated against seven other teams made up of students drawn from sixth forms across the Wealden constituency.
Connie from Wadhurst and Helena from Heathfield tackled the thorny issue of ‘Nuclear Energy versus Renewables’ in the opening round, argued against the motion, ‘The Assassination of a Dictator can never be justified’ in the semi-final, and won the final with a barnstorming defence of the motion, ‘Charity begins at home so the overseas aid budget should be cut at times of economic hardship.’
The two students were awarded trophies and an invitation to Parliament to watch Prime Minister’s Questions.
Charles Hendry MP commented: “I was delighted that all the secondary schools in Wealden took part in the Wealden Schools Debating Competition and it was very exciting to see the idea of the debate become a reality with such a wonderful range of contributions from students. All of the students who took part deserve great credit for the amount of work which they put in to preparing their speeches, and they should all feel very proud of how they performed. The feedback has been very positive and I look forward to making this an annual event. Connie and Helena were a superb team who worked well with each other and prepared very insightful debates to challenging topics and I look forward to welcoming them to Parliament for lunch in the near future.”
Head Teacher at Heathfield Community College, Mr Powell, commented: “The inaugural Wealden Schools Competition has clearly been a great success. Pairing students from a range of public and private schools across the area proved to be a great way of bringing some of the finest young minds and debaters together in a stimulating competition. I know that students from Heathfield greatly enjoyed this opportunity and I am delighted that Helena Dollimore, together with her partner Connie have gone on to win the competition but should like to add my congratulations to all of those who took part and look forward to this event becoming a regular part of the Wealden Schools Calendar.
Headmistress at Mayfield, Miss Antonia Beary, commented: “The young people who entered this competition are a credit to our local community and a reminder that we have some excellent schools which are doing an outstanding job of supporting students to become articulate, informed adults. I look forward to watching the Competition flourish and perhaps even to seeing some of these competitors taking up the challenge of entering the political arena.”