England Schools Debating Team 2010

This year The English-Speaking is proud to again organize the England Schools Debating Team for the 2010 World Schools Debating Championships. The 2010 competition will be in Qatar in February. The England Schools Debating Team were finalists at the 2009 championships and to represent England is one of the greatest honours available to a schools debater, and competition is always fierce.

Qatar World Schools runs from 8th to 18th of February.

Team members will be expected to attend approximately 10 training days, divided roughly between weekends and holidays, and to work independently to research cases and improve their knowledge of international issues. They should also be prepared to give England training priority over participation in some of the more minor domestic tournaments.

Applications

Applicants fill out the online form, and must provide a referee, who will be contacted separately for a reference. This referee should be a teacher, usually the debate coach, who can write on behalf of the school. The deadline for references will be 23rd September.

Any student at school in England in the academic year 2009 – 10, and who meets the tournament’s age restrictions (you must be over 14 and not yet have turned 19 on the first day of the tournament, which in this case is 8 February 2010) is welcome to apply for a place on the team. Usually students from Years 11, 12 and 13 apply. We cannot invite everyone to a trial, but we guarantee to trial those who, this season or in the past, have met one of the following criteria:

reached the third round of the Schools Mace (Area Final)
ranked in the top 32 speakers at the Cambridge Union tournament
ranked in the top 32 individual speakers at the Durham Union tournament
ranked in the top 32 individual speakers at the Oxford Union tournament

Students who do not meet these criteria may well still be called to trial; in the past, strong experience in other speech activities such as public-speaking, Model United Nations, Mock Trial, the International Competition for Young Debaters, etc. has been considered favourably by the selectors in drawing up a shortlist.

Although we might invite to trial successful younger debaters with experience in ICYD or similar competitions, our policy is that we will never take a student below the age of 15 at the start of the tournament to Worlds. Debaters who do not meet this age criteria may be given a chance to debate at the trials, to gain further experience.

Trials will be held on October 3rd and 4th

In the first stage all trialists will each debate three times on Saturday 3rd October in the 3-on-3 format used at World Schools. After this the strongest students will be called on to the second stage on Sunday 4th October, which will involve having two further debates. The panel of selectors will also interview six or so of the strongest trialists.

The trials will take place on both Saturday and Sunday, although only those who make the cut on Saturday will also have to attend on Sunday. Because of this, we are asking applicants living relatively near to London to volunteer to put up another trialist overnight on Saturday 3rd October if this proves necessary. We may not have to take these volunteers up on their offer, but if we do they (and their parents!) will have several days notice of this, and we will put them in touch with the student we are asking them to billet in advance. We hope that this request will produce a generous response, as we do not want the potential cost of staying in a hotel overnight to be a deterrent from applying for a trial. We are also asking applicants from beyond South-Eastern England if they would be able to make their own arrangements to stay overnight in London, perhaps because they have friends or family near the city with whom they could stay.

Trial format:

All of those invited to trial will speak in three debates in 3-on-3 format. As the trials are held in the world schools format, for the fifth year the ESU World Schools Committee are running a competition before the trials to give people an opportunity to practise a format which may not be familiar to them.

This year the competition is being hosted by the Pimlico Academy, in London, on Saturday 19th September. Schools can enter a team of three, four or five students (only three speak at one time). There will be three debates (a mixture of prepared and impromptu motions) breaking to a final. The day will also involve sessions on the world schools format as well as feedback from experienced adjudicators. To see more about the format please visit www.schoolsdebate.com . We have a strict team cap for the tournament so please register your interest by emailing Tim Savin at savint@clsg.org.uk. The competition will cost £30 for a team of 3 students (plus £10 each if you want to send a 4th or 5th student) and lunch will be provided. Specific dietary requirements should be sent to Ivan Baird at ibaird@pimlicoacademy.org.

Those unfamiliar with 3-on-3 format are advised to visit www.schoolsdebate.com, the website of the World Schools Debating Championships. Particularly useful sections include:

I hope this information is helpful. Please get in touch with me if you would like to discuss any aspect of the team or trial process.

Nick Pacheco
England Schools Debating Team Coach

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