The Emmbrook School and the Willink were the winners of the semi-final of the Wokingham Schools’ Debating Competition, held last week on Thursday the 20th November at Wokingham Town Hall.
In a series of lively debates chaired by the Rt. Hon John Redwood MP, who organises the competition for local schools every year, Adam Connell and Florence Curtis of the Emmbrook and Lawrence Hill and Dominic Murray-Vaughan of the Willink scored victories over their opponents from St. Crispin’s and the Holt School. They will now proceed to the final round, held this Friday the 28th November in Wokingham Town Hall at 7pm, to battle it out for the John Redwood Cup and a chance to visit the Houses of Parliament.
The motion that will be debated this Friday is “This House believes the Government has created the Credit Crunch”, a very topical subject with the economy being so high on the political agenda.
The winning team will receive the John Redwood Cup for their school, which will also receive an overhead projector donated by 3M. Both teams will also get the opportunity to have lunch with John Redwood in the House of Commons next year and see Prime Minister’s Questions from the viewing gallery. All participants will receive certificates and small prizes from the House of Commons gift shop at a prize giving ceremony held after the final round on Friday.
Speaking about the semi-final, John Redwood said: “Once again the quality of debate was very high. All the teams had obviously put a great deal of effort into preparing their arguments, and they also showed an ability to think on their feet and respond well to the cases made by their opponents”.
“These are valuable life skills and I am glad to be able to give Wokingham pupils the chance to hone these by organising the competition, which is very popular amongst all the participants”.
For more information please contact Carl Thomson on 020 7219 4205, and for photographs of the participating pupils (for media purposes only), please contact Christine Hill on 0118 962 9501