admissions@clfs.surrey.sch.uk
01372 277933
City of London Freemen's School
Ashtead Park
Surrey
KT21 1ET
In the early months of 1933, the Oxford Union carried an internationally important debate. Despite the first stirrings of Nazism and centuries of British patriots, the house declared that it would, under no circumstances, fight for king and country. The effect was spectacular. Against a backdrop of charged political tension, reactions were immediate, and often vehemently condemning. The Daily Express took the opportunity to declare the students, among other things, 'woozy-minded Communists'; an enraged Churchill attacked it as 'that shameless avowal'; and heated debates were sparked in unions nationwide. Debating had become an intensely political idea.
Today, debating remains at the frontline of both current affairs and controversy. From the nature of liberty to the state of school uniforms, few subjects are immune to its incisive power or analytical dissection. Even the Dalai Lama must undergo a series of formal debates in the final stage of his training. In short, debating matters: it's what you say, how you say it... and why it works.
The most basic definition of debating is that it is the statement of contrasting arguments and ideas. The type of debating that is practiced in universities is loosely based around the conventions of the Houses of Parliament and is referred to as ‘British Parliamentary’, usually abbreviated to ‘BP
There are two sides in British Parliamentary debate, the proposition and the opposition. The participants in the debate speak in turn: 1st proposition speaker, then 1st opposition speaker, and so on. Each speaker makes one speech only. There can be two, three or four speakers per side in BP debates.
Speeches are the core of debating. They are either of five minutes or seven minutes in length in the formal setting of a debate, but in the training context some speaking exercises will be shorter in length. Your instructor will inform you of the length of speech that is required in good time before you are expected to speak. All speeches should have a beginning, middle and an end; or, if you prefer, introduction, exposition and conclusion. Most speeches have a three-section structure. This might consist of three arguments, three themes, or three headings, under which the substantive matter of the speech is presented.
Any subject may be debated. Speakers are expected to argue whichever side of a debate they may find themselves in. Sometimes this means that you will have to argue something that you do not agree with. You should be prepared to do this. Similarly, you should not assume that other speakers in the debate are arguing things that they believe in. They, like you, are simply advocates for the side that they find themselves representing.
Within a debate speakers should always be courteous and heckling is frowned upon. At the end of a debate the conflict between speakers should be forgotten. Speakers should take care to note that within debating there is no assumption of a particular world-view: you should be prepared to explain and justify through logic and argument everything that you include in a speech. Download a full set of rules for debating.
Freemen’s Debating Society (DebSoc) is the school debating society.
DebSoc meets on Wednesdays at 1.05pm in E2 and E3 and lunches are provided for confirmed members. We hold regular debates in E2 and ‘show’ debates in the Haywood Centre Foyer. To become a member you must be in the Senior School (Upper 4 – Upper 6 and attend regularly.
DebSoc competes in six national debate competitions:
● The International Competition for Young
Debaters held at The Oxford Union
● Oxford Union Schools' Competition
● Cambridge Union Schools' Competition
● Durham Union Schools' Competition
● English Speaking Union Debating
Competition
● The Great Pharmacy Debate
Junior DebSoc
Pupils in Upper 3 and Lower 4 can also take part in debating, in DebSoc Juniors, which meets in E2 at 1.05pm on Fridays. Pupils shouldn’t worry if they’re completely new to debating. They’ll soon be arguing passionately! The club is trained by the senior Debating Society with experience in competitive debating, and we will soon build up (hopefully) a formidable team of Junior debaters. When debating, you may find it useful to use this downloadable template as a starting block.
DebSoc Events
Once a year we host a house debating competition, Christmas debate and debating dinner:
House debating took place in November 2010 and in the Intermediate Round Gresham won the trophy and Whittington gained the most house points. In the Senior Round Whittington won the trophy and Hale gained the
most house points.
Our Christmas debate took place in December 2010, and was based around the motion Form 1 should wear Elf costumes to school during December.
The debating dinner took place on Friday 25th March 2011.
DebSoc Committee
Chair - Margaret Young
Deputy - Catherine Sadler
Secretary - Rebecca Howe
Media/Marketing - Chantal de Gaston Cooper and Joshua Meeking
Mrs Trehearn, the Acting Head of English was in charge of Debating at Freemen’s from 2005 until the end of the summer term in 2011. Read her final interview here.
To Durham to Debate
On the weekend of 19th and 20th March 2011, our debating A and B teams took part in the Durham Schools' Debating Competition. The A team of Margaret Young and Catherine Sadler, and the B team of Zoe Rawson and Moya Smith had a fantastic weekend in this beautiful university city. They represented the School very well and had a lot of fun debating the following challenging motions:
THW hold football clubs responsible for the behaviour of their fans (A team placed second and B team placed fourth)
THW change the Gender Reform Act to enable all individuals to self-certify their gender (A team placed fourth and B team placed fourth)
THW fund revolutionary groups (A team placed second and B team placed second)
THW pay drug addicts to be sterilized (A team placed second and B team placed fourth)
THW abolish the 50/50 Catholic/Protestant quota in the Northern Ireland police service (this was a closed adjudication, the tab will follow).
We've had the Debate, Now comes the wait. And that's final!
On Monday 14th March 2011, the Debating A team, consisting of Margaret Young and Catherine Sadler, competed in the Oxford Union Schools' Finals Day 2011. They qualified for the finals having previously won the South East regional round of the Oxford Union Schools' debating competition in February. The team debated:
1. THB that the Director-General of the BBC should be an elected office
2. THW abandon all measures taken by the State to protect and preserve the countryside
3. THW limit gay rights protestors from marching in areas which might provoke a violent reaction
4. THW allow judges to pardon those who leak State secrets if they are deemed to be in the public interest
They faced some excellent teams, including Eton College and KCS, and were a credit to the School. The girls face an anxious wait to hear the results.
Freemen's 'A' Win Oxford Union Schools' South East Round
Margaret Young and Catherine Sadler, both of Lower 6 at City of London Freemen's School, won the South East regional round of the Oxford Union Schools' debating competition held at Charterhouse School on 8th February 2011.
The pair debated "This house believes that government should fund university education in its entirety" and "This house believes that war in order to spread democracy is justified". They won both debates decisively and went on to win the entire round, beating top independent schools from Surrey, Hampshire and Hertfordshire. They now progress to Finals Day at the Oxford Union on 12th March.
Mrs Trehearn, the Head of Debating and Acting Head of English, said: "This represents the pinnacle of our debating achievement so far at Freemen's. The girls have been involved in competitive debating for five years and thoroughly deserve this success."
International Success for Young Debaters 
Freemen's entered three teams for the prestigious International Competition for Young Debaters (ICYD) on 29th January 2011. The team members, all in Upper 4, were some of the youngest participants. Team A consisted of Samuel Strijdon and Rosie Shakerchi, team B were Thomas Jager and Tom Clarke, and team C were Ellie Turner and Rachel Dunne.
The event took place at the world renowned University of Oxford, giving the competitors a wonderful opportunity to experience what it might be like to study there in the future.
Oxford University held a very useful debating workshop at the beginning of the day for all competitors. The Freemen's team said it was a wonderful way to meet new people and it helped to put them at ease for the first debate.
The first motion, "This house believes that Western governments should pay dictators to stand down", had been released prior to the competition. It was a very successful first debate and team C were awarded first place, team A third place, and team B fourth place.
The second motion, "This house would legalise performance enhancing drugs" was another which prompted an impassioned response from our teams and this also yielded very good results with team B, team A and team C coming first, second and third respectively.
In the final debate, the Freemen's teams again put in a solid effort to gain excellent scores in "This house would enforce the death punishment for serious crime" with the B team first, the C team third and the A team fourth.
After a long day all 64 teams waited in anticipation for the final results. There were wonderful results for Freemen's with the B team 20th, the C team 23rd and the A team 49th. Former Freemen's student and debating veteran Patrick Kennedy turned out in support and congratulated the teams on their achievements.
To end the day, the University gave the competitors the opportunity to express their views and opinions to the entire room on a given topic. Although the Freemen's debaters did not speak themselves, they thoroughly enjoyed listening to the views of others regarding banning rap music and banning alcohol.
A notable performance came from our own Rachel Dunne who, out of the total 123 competitors, gained a respectable 29th in overall speaker points.
First-time debater Tom Jager said: "I thoroughly enjoyed the day and look forward to developing my skills for next year".
