During the last week, I had the immense pleasure of accompanying a group of our Year 12 students to Bellevue Education's inaugural Debating competition at The Oratory Preparatory School in Oxfordshire.
Over the past few months, the group has been undergoing extensive training, provided by The Noisy Classroom, in debate hosting skills: as Chairpeople; Timekeepers; and Judges.
Wednesday was the day to bring that all together - playing their part in encouraging the development of the somewhat lost art of public speaking and, along with it, the extension of oratory skills. Teams from schools across the Bellevue group took part, with students in Year 5s forming teams of three to argue proposing and opposing perspectives on a range of complex issues. I was thoroughly impressed by the standards on show.
During round one, prepared debates commenced with whether robots should be allowed in the household and then moved on to arguments and counter arguments as to why more investment should be made available for space exploration.
A more challenging, impromptu pair of debates focused on vegetarianism and the potential banning of zoos.
A keenly competitive few hours lead to the advancement of two teams to the final: The Gateway School in Great Missenden and Elmhurst Boys School in Croydon. The all-girl Gateway trio prevailed, ironically arguing tremendously for the retention of sizable wages for football players.
All participants were, in truth, winners at the competition last week. And amongst them were the Year 12s of Ealing Independent College, who shone in their roles.
From the start of the day, I was extremely impressed with their conduct. Formal outfits and punctuality are not normally the strengths of 17-year-old young men, but they were all able to get in for a 7.45am start, looking the part as the officiators they had volunteered to be. I joked with them all about the need for a ‘Formal Friday’ moving forward on a weekly basis, but this did not seem to draw many laughs, and their insistence that they would likely all be sleeping on the bus to the event did not come to fruition - they were genuinely excited about working with students a great deal younger than them, acting as role models whilst imparting wisdom to fellow students.
What pleased me most of all was their manner with the younger children - encouraging, supportive and motivational. I was proud to watch the positive impact which they were certainly having on their contemporaries, and saw the need for more events like this. Not just for the participants, but for the officiators too - to develop people skills and enhance their roundedness as individuals.
The Bellevue group is striving to bring schools and colleges together with the intention that stronger links can foster more proficient students in a range of areas. A range of events in the sporting, artistic and technological spheres are being accompanied with debating, and it’s immensely pleasing to see such initiatives.
Volunteering can bring a huge sense of altruistic confidence within oneself. I was pleased to have been reelected as Vice Chair of Independent Schools Association London North at the tail end of last week, and I’m keen to encourage, where I can, stronger bonds between schools to bring the overall standard of provision up.
Where one can, I feel that it’s vital to contribute to life beyond work or family. It says a great deal about the selflessness of an individual to do so in search of a better way.
I am hoping, very much, that parents will follow this maxim by putting themselves forward towards the creation of a parent association which will contribute to the improvement of what we do at the College. I have already listened to and put aside for consideration many ideas from this source. We are all invested in trying to make the College a better place - whether that it the staff, the students, the parents or the wider Bellevue group itself.