Five teams of Dulwich debaters travelled to Bristol on Saturday 18 February for the Bristol Union Schools’ Debating Competition, with the team of Sam Collier and Will Cook emerging victorious. The competition consisted of four rounds of debates and a grand final, where the boys debated the motion ‘This House would force people to use their real identities when communicating online’. Unsurprisingly given their success as a team, Sam topped the speakers’ tab, with Will coming second.
The team of Patrick Kenny and Louis Collier narrowly missed out on being in the grand final after placing seventh overall, out of the 48 teams in attendance. Louis placed joint fourth on the speakers’ tab and Patrick 15th. The team of Arnav Kapur and Angus Tayler placed 13th on the team tab and 17th and 19th, respectively, on the speakers’ tab. Novice debater Raffy Marshall was paired with Sixth Former Jasper Robinson and the two placed an impressive 12th on the team tab, coming 47th and 51st, respectively, on the speakers’ tab. The final team of novice debaters William Spence and Edmund Stutter placed a very respectful 34th on the team tab, having debated motions ranging from ‘This House would arm the Syrian Opposition Movement’ to ‘The House would selectively teach British history to encourage national pride’.