On 28 January, Gabriella, Joanne, Cara and Muriel in Year 11, and Laura in Year 12 (as the team leader) travelled to LVS Acsot, Berkshire, to compete in the ISA Public Speaking and Debating Competition 2023.
It was a busy day, with the team having three debates in total: one prepared and researched in advance, and two debates with only thirty minutes preparation time. The St Catherine’s team did tremendously well, winning the first two debates, and drawing in the last debate.
The motions were: ‘The UK should pay reparations for its colonial past’, ‘Prison sentences are not an effective method of stopping crime’ and ‘Advances in Artificial Intelligence have gone too far’.
The judges commended the St Catherine’s team for their fantastic teamwork and support for each other.
Later on, Cara Ehrenreich performed her speech on Ambition in Young Women, Modern Society, and Scandinavia.
In the end, St Catherine’s was awarded the overall winner of Public Speaking and Debating, and Cara Ehrenreich won the Award for Cross-Examination and Rebuttal. Cara, Joanne, and Gabriella will therefore be representing the UK in an international debating competition hosted by the European Council of National Association of Independent Schools (ECNAIS) in Portugal in April. The competition will include teams from nine countries: Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Denmark, Greece, Italy, Portugal, Spain, Turkey and the UK. We wish the girls every success in this exciting opportunity and we are very proud of their achievements.