In early February, two of Oundle School’s British Parliamentary debaters met with success in winning the Regional Final of the Cambridge Union Society’s Competition for Schools held at Bedford School. This puts them through to the International Finals of the event to be held at the Cambridge Union on 29 February.
Representing the School were Oliver Jackson (18) and Hugo Laffey (18), both of whom acquitted themselves impressively in the course of the two qualifying debates, having earlier beaten their opposition at the Regional Round held in late November at Leicester High School.
The motions debated at the Regional final were “This House believes that organised religion does more harm than good” and “This House believes that people should be permitted to be married to more than one person at the same time.”
Oli commented, “The second round was thoroughly enjoyable, if a lot tougher than I expected. Hugo and I had to oppose the motion 'Organised Religion does more harm than good' and then argue for the motion 'One should be able to marry more than one person at the same time.' I have had quite a lot of debating experience, competing at School in the inter-house prepared debate competition regularly and also in the Oxford Union Impromptu Debating Competition (for the last two years; I got through to the final last year) and the Imperial College Science Debating competition. I am planning on studying Natural Sciences at Cambridge, and am currently studying Physics, Chemistry, Double Maths and History for my A-levels.”
Hugo added, “The experience was challenging – as we had only 15 minutes to prepare for each debate there was a lot of pressure. However, this gives you a lot of adrenaline and makes it very rewarding. I am planning on studying History and Politics, and am currently studying History, Drama, Greek and Maths.”
The opposition on 29 February will be the best from all over the UK, Rep of Ireland, Canada, the Netherlands, Greece and various other as yet unspecified nations. All motions for the Finals are 15-minute preparation time- announced just before the debate, not known or prepared in advance.
The prize for winning the competition outright is a cup for the school represented by the team.
For further details visit: www.cambridgeschools.cus.org.