On Wednesday 19th of November four intrepid French students travelled to Mill Hill to compete in the regional heat of a national French Debating competition. The school fielded two teams consisting of Daniel Calman and Jack Ottman, and Boaz Levy and Toby Cohen.

The group stages proved tough with a very high standard of French. Teams debated motions including: ’This house believes British Jihadis fighting in Syria should no longer be considered British,’ ’This house believes that Ebola is not an issue,’ and ‘This house would leave the European Union.’ Toby and Boaz went through to the quarter finals with Jack and Daniel coming a narrow second in their group.

The semi-final saw HABS pick up a convincing win against UCS debating the motion that ‘This house believes the royal family is no longer necessary’ which moved us into the final.
The final was a very close fought debate on the motion ‘This house believes that space research is a waste of time and would argue the money would be better spent elsewhere.’ The debate was so close that the judges ruled that it was a draw and both schools would go through as joint winners.

We would like to thank Mme Robson and M Allemand for their help in preparation and support during the competition. HABS will be competing in the national final in February 2015 at St.Paul’s.