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England Schools Mace Final

This article was published on Friday 1 April 2011

St Paul's School has won the English final of the Schools Mace, the national schools debating competition.

Jason Vit, Head of Speech and Debate, recounts the events of the final:

Three hours of intense and engaging debates left the judges with the monumental task of trying to pick one winner from six champion teams. Each of the twelve students who competed on Friday had already won two debates closer to home as well as the regional final to get to the England final and the standard on the night proved it. Even from my front row seat as Chair for the evening I had no idea which way the call would go and the panel of five judges took over an hour to decide on the winner. In the end, with a split decision of 3:2, the judges awarded the win to the team of Ben and Freddy from the London regional team, St Pauls. The London winners, now England winners, had to propose the motion, This House Would place sanctions on countries that criminalise homosexuality. Drawing on real life examples, international law and compelling logic the team wove together a powerful proposition that laid a moral, ethical and practical obligation on the world to sanction anything up to 71 countries.

While this was the challenge faced by St Pauls, the challenge for the judges was that the other five teams all delivered similarly impressive performances. The South Region winners, Sophie and Bilal from Sevenoaks Schools opposed St Pauls and raised a host of practical and legal arguments which forced Ben and Freddy onto the back foot all the way until the summary where they gained a slight edge.

Up first on the night were the East and Central region winners with King Edward VI Church of England Voluntary Controlled Upper School vs. King Edward’s School from near Birmingham. Oscar and Joe spoke first for King Edward VI and proposed that Europe must now abandon nuclear power in favour of renewable energy and Henry and Frank spoke for the opposition. With the Fukushima crisis still ongoing both teams engaged deftly with a very difficult topic speaking with great eloquence and passion about the need to balance risks with energy security and the relative dangers of comparative industries.

The teams from the North Region, St Francis Xavier’s College from Liverpool, appeared in the England final for the second time with Matt Handley and Matt Oldham having made it to the final two years ago when both were in year 11. They supported the rise in tuition fees (never a crowd pleaser with an audience largely made up of students!), and were opposed by the West Region champions from St John’s School and Community College with the team of Emmie and James. During almost an hour of debate the two teams engaged with everything from macro-economic theory to the need for graduates and the question of who benefits most, the individual or society.

The evening was made more challenging for the speakers and more fun for everyone involved with lively and challenging floor debates from the audience with everyone from teachers and students to younger brothers and sisters and grandparents asking questions and making points.

This was a fantastic end to a year of competitive debating with a tough final reflecting the talent and hard work that goes into this competition from students all around the country. The ESU would like to thank all the teachers and parents who give up so much time to coach, encourage and taxi students throughout the year making this competition possible.

Ben and Freddy will now go to Dublin and compete against the Irish, Welsh and Scottish schools champions to try and win the International Schools Mace.

Good luck to them both.