Grey Coat Issue 10: February 2011 Debating news


On 25th January, members of the Year 9 Debating Club headed for St Saviour's and St Olave's to participate in their first round of DebateMate's Urban Debate League. In advance the girls had prepared points for the initial motion but were only informed on arrival that their role was to propose "This House would punish celebrities for misconduct in their private lives". The boys from St Thomas the Apostle put up a strong case for the Opposition against Olivia Sewell-Risley, Omaima El-Labbakh, Tiffany Campbell and Jordan Campbell-Weedon.


After this session, the students had a maximum of 15 minutes' preparation to produce points from scratch for the second debate with boys from Kemnal Academy. This time the Grey Coat team of Cheraldine Amaadzie, Omaima, Jessica Southwood and Olivia had to oppose the motion "This House would ban those under 16 from using social


networking sites such as Facebook".


There was constructive comment on individual performances so the GCH mentor was particularly impressed by Olivia's very clear definition of the first motion. The mentor thought however that there should have been a greater emphasis on the LINKING of points to prove the case for the Proposition. There was praise for Omaima's rebuttal and for Olivia's ability to sum up remarks from the floor and from both teams. All the team speakers performed well and Sophie Douglas made significant contributions from the floor in both debates. Indy Lekan-Alabi, Kofoworola Asunloye and Maame Afua Aduful undertook responsibilities for chairing and time-keeping.Ms McMellan


An invitation from Eve Turner, the Head Girl of City of London School for Girls, to enjoy some friendly debating


SLAMbassadors poetry workshop


In January about thirty Year 7 and 8 girls took part in a SLAMbassadors performance poetry workshop run by The Poetry Society. The first workshop was an eye-opener as I learnt a lot about how to structure poems and what words you should try to use and avoid using when writing poems. Then, I was invited to attend a poetry performance at the Players Theatre near Charing Cross; all of the poets seemed friendly and their poems were based on what they saw and how they felt and every poem seemed very personalised but it reached out and connected with all of us. Four girls from Grey Coat, Vida, Lottie, Joy and Kathleen in Year 8 all read their poems under the spotlights in front of the large audience and gave fantastic performances. Both events were really good opportunities which I thoroughly enjoyed. On behalf of


at the Barbican proved irresistible. To encourage engagement in political debate, pupils had also been invited from City of London School, Fortismere, Latymer and Westminster School. The opening motion was "This House believes the government should subsidise tertiary education" and then came "This House would require at least 1 parent to remain a homemaker until the youngest child was 16". With Sarah Nwandu, the Debating Prefect, proposing the first motion and Phillip Park the second, there was a very positive GCH input to the event which was attended by some 90 students. An adaptation of the World Schools' style of debating meant that the Chairman, Babs Williams, ensured maximum opportunities for participation from the floor. Gjeta Gjyshinca and Edie Byrne seized their moments.


Debating Society. 5


Photos: Above Lottie, Joy and Kathleen and below Vida take part in the SLAMbassadors poetry workshop


the selected girls that took part in the SLAMbassadors Poetry Workshop, I would like to thank Mr Morton and all the other staff involved to make those workshops possible.Rochelle Fontaine


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