Grey Coat Issue 11: March/April 2011


the City of London Academy where, with increased confidence, both GCH teams were to be involved in producing arguments for 2 different motions. Though notified in advance that the first debate would be, 'This House believes that protests are an ineffective way of bringing about change', the girls did not know until after 4pm whether they would be proposing or opposing this motion. In the event both of the teams were to propose this and the subsequent short preparation debate, 'This House would pay for students to go to school'. Courage is needed to stand up and to deliver a speech, whether presenting a case to a Year 8 assembly or challenging the views of students from Blackheath Bluecoat School.


To their credit the competitors performed well, winning 3 debates and narrowly losing the fourth. The Year 9 speakers were Jackie Ajang, Margaret Ajakaiye, Sophie Douglas, Emma Richardson, Jordan Campbell-Weedon, Omaima El-Labbakh, Tiffany Campbell and Olivia Sewell-Risley. Scrupulous time-keeping was undertaken by Ronita Awoonor-Gordon, Samantha Nammour and Sky Ghebrelul.The message for all who wish to become proficient debaters is to keep practising and to stand up and speak whenever opportunities occur.


ESU debating tournament There were 36 schools competing in the London Region's Second Round of the English-Speaking Union's Debating


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Tournament on Sunday 13th March. Teams arrived at Dartmouth House from Alleyn's and Westminster School, from Sutton Grammar School for Boys to Watford Grammar School for Boys. The challenging motions for the day included 'This house believes that media organisations should refuse to publish material from wikileaks' and 'This house would provide state funded assisted suicide in the UK'. GCH sixthformers Lucy Burkitt-Gray and Sarah Nwandu argued with particular strength when they proposed 'This House would introduce quotas for women in cabinet'. Though not selected to progress to Round 3, the students gained valuable experience from the event which was won by the team from St Paul's School. Ms McMellan


Work Related Learning


On Friday 4th February Year 8 had visits from people who work with writing. At the beginning of the day we had a short introduction, but then we all went off to different classrooms during periods 1-4 of the day. During the day we visited 6 different people who told us about their work, how it relates to writing and then they finally got us involved by writing different parts that related to their job. They taught us how they would write something and then we had to use that information in our writing.


Different activities included: Speech writing: we learnt how to write a good speech.


Solicitors and will writing: we learnt the best ways to phrase a will.


Nature conservationist: We learnt how to pitch an idea that would help save the environment.


Year 8 students during one of their Work Related Learning Sessions


For me the highlight of the day was finding out what different people did and learning how to write in different ways,


in different jobs. Overall, the day was extremely enjoyable.


Lucetta Adams 8G


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