13th March 2023
It was a busy weekend for debaters Callum H and Sophie H (both SV), who travelled to Oxford to compete in Finals Day of the Oxford Schools debating tournament.
The pair battled their way to the semi-finals, ultimately breaking 3rd out of 116 teams. As well as this, Sophie topped the Speaker tab of 232 finalists, with Callum ranking 5th - an incredible achievement!
Oxford Schools is one of the most prestigious debating tournaments for schools, with a number of teams from overseas qualifying from their own national qualifying tournaments. Overseas teams this year included teams from Canada, India, Hungary, the Netherlands, Hong Kong and Ireland. More than 500 teams entered the various regional qualifying rounds with more than 1000 speakers overall.
Sophie and Callum, who will both be representing Scotland in the World Schools Debating Championships in Vietnam this summer, have worked incredibly hard to prepare for this tournament and their achievements at Oxford are among the best the school has ever had in debating.