Eastbrook at the Urban Debating League

On Monday the 3rd March, Eastbrook School's debate team took part in the second round of the Urban Debating League (UDL). The UDL is an annual competition between London secondary schools where students are able to show off the skills they learn at Eastbrook's weekly Debate Mate club. The competition has two rounds, with a select few schools being chosen to enter into a 'grand final' in May.

This year, both rounds of the competition were hosted at Sydney Russell School and Miss Wood and Miss Shaik were able to take over 40 students with them to compete. The first round of the competition took place in late January and half of the debate squad were chosen to compete, while a different set of students were selected to take part in last week's competition. The scores from both rounds and from all students will be combined and see Eastbrook placed on the leaderboard against other east London schools such as Hornchurch High, Dagenham Park and Central Foundation School for Girls.

Both events have been very exciting and the competition has been tough. However, it has been so pleasing to see students from Years 7-10 come together to represent Eastbrook in their debates. Our students have been able to discuss challenging topics surrounding the ethics of international aid and the effectiveness of the prison system in the UK. Members of Debate Mate completed independent research on these topics, and worked together to construct cohesive arguments in their squads of 6. Additionally, students also had to face two 'unseen motions' in each round of the competition. This meant that they had to engage in Debates with no prior preparation or help from staff members!

In the UDL, each squad is scored out of 100 points for every debate they participate in. These points combine to give our school an overall score, and thus a position on the leaderboard. As well as points, students are informed by judges whether they have won their debate, by having the most persuasive argument. Although we do not yet know our position on the London UDL leaderboard, or if we will make it to the 'grand final', Eastbrook were able to amass a high number of points across the two events and we are PROUD to announce that the 6 Eastbrook squads won over half of their debates across both rounds. A special mention goes to the Year 7 teams, who due to their excellent preparation, were able to win 3 out of 4 of their debates!

Whatever the outcome may be, we are immensely PROUD of our pupils and the dedication they have shown to Debate Mate in the Urban Debating League.