Victoire dans le French debating!
Earlier this week, two of our Sixth Form students, Monty Francis (Upper Sixth) and Tom Fane (Lower Sixth) won the Eastern Region Independent Schools' French Debating Competition held at The Perse.
Several other schools from the area took part in the competition, including the Stephen Perse Foundation, Oundle School, The Leys School and Bedford School.
Monty and Tom came up against a very strong Upper Sixth team from Oundle School, winning the round and qualifying for the National Final on 18 March at the French Institute in London. This is the second time Monty has qualified for the National Final – he also qualified in last year's competition.
First, for the knockout stage, the pair had to debate three motions:
In France citizens with foreign origins have the same opportunities as French born citizens.
Telling the truth is always the best solution.
Using surrogate mothers should be allowed in France.
In the final, the pair had to debate an improvised motion ('Money does not make you happy') for which they only had 10 minutes to prepare. The Perse was against the motion. The home pair just got the upper hand against Oundle by presenting their arguments coherently and through their consistent and methodical rebuffs of the arguments thrown at them.
We also ran a regional competition for Lower Sixth students at the same time, and our team of Robert Holiday and Zoe Durbin came second – well done.
Classics competition success for Perse pupils
French flair earns Perse pair a place in national debating finals
French exchange adventure savoured by Perse students