The Ridgeway School have now participated in what has been dubbed ‘the toughest debating competition in the country’ over six years. However, before their win on Friday the school had failed to progress beyond the Regional Final stages. Having staved off competition in earlier debates on copyright and the arts and on the future of fossil fuels, the team managed to make their way through to the final debate of the day on the use of ‘smart drugs’, held at the Wills Memorial Building at the University of Bristol. 

Following a hard fought and exciting discussion, the panel of prestigious judges went away to deliberate, with one experienced Debating Matters judge, Professor Mark Viney, announcing that this:

“is the hardest decision I have had to make at a debate final.”

As the decision was eventually announced Ridgeway teacher Andy Lannigan could not help but shout ‘Hooray’! One of the judges at the final debate, Phil Sooben, Director of Policy and Administration at the Economic and Social Research Council said of finalists Matthew Gowshall and Katie Williams from the Ridgeway:

“Both of you stood your ground exceptionally well against a barrage of questions and challenges from both judges and the audience – well done!”

The judges then awarded the team the regional title.

Speaking after the win, teacher Andy Lannigan said:

“The team have done absolutely brilliantly this year – they have been really dedicated to doing their research and grappling with the big ideas behind these debates. This competition really brings students out of their shell and attracts those with real intellect.”

In addition to their team victory one speaker, Matt Gowshall, won the prize for the ‘Best Individual’ of the day from a team of individual judges. His team mate Chloe Pierce was awarded an ‘Honourable Mention’.  Speaking about his experience of the debates Matt said:

“It is really thrilling to be able to come back with a relevant response to the judges who are often experts in the field and engage them in an intellectual row.”

Teacher and students alike believe that they will go on to achieve great things at the 3-day Debating Matters Competition National Final in London in July, which the students won a place to, alongside subscriptions to Encyclopaedia Britannica and £500 worth of Hodder Education books for their school.
Debating Matters is no ordinary debating competition. Renowned for being ‘the toughest debating competition in the country’ debaters were grilled by panels of expert judges. Judges included: James Lawford-Davies, leading lawyer and lecturer in law and medicine; Simon Watt, Presenter, Inside Nature’s Giants; George Brock, Head of Journalism, City University, London; Dr John Wand, Deputy Director of Research, Economic and Social Research Council Natures Giants and Janet Lewis-Jones, Former member of the BBC Trust and Vice President of the British Board of Film Classification.

FURTHER HELP

Notes for Editors
(1) The West and South Wales Regional Final of the Institute of Ideas Debating Matters Competition took place at the Wills Memorial Building, University of Bristol, on 25th March 2011. This competition is sponsored by a range of organisations. For more information see here.

(2) The winning team were The Ridgeway School, Swindon and the runners-up Bournemouth School for Girls: New College, Swindon; Cardiff Sixth Form College; Bodmin College, Cornwall; Gryphon School, Sherborne also took part.

(3) The Ridgeway School received £500 worth of Hodder Education books. The runner-up school wins £250 worth of Hodder Education books. Both receive a year’s online subscription to Encyclopaedia Britannica.

(4) Full details of the programme for the day, including all the debate motions and topic guides, can be found here. For further information about the competition, go to www.debatingmatters.com. To interview students, teachers, judges and other participants, please contact .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on 020 7269 9232.

Notes for Phto Editors: The Ridgeway School team L-R: Katie Williams, Katie McCabe, Chloe Peirce, teacher Andy Lanigan and Matt Gowshall.