Another excellent House Debating final

This year’s hotly-contested Inter-House Debating final came to a conclusion last Friday with Rutherford House lifting the trophy for the first time.

All 10 Houses have been taking part in this annual competition throughout the Autumn Term and the final pitched Rutherford against St Bede’s House.

A panel of judges included Old Worthian and incoming Chair of Governors Sebastian Bailey, Head Master Stuart McPherson and former student Tom Haller, who was hugely involved with debating during his time at Worth including winning the Inter-House Debating final twice.

The motion was, ‘This House believes that the BBC should be fully privatised when its charter is renewed in light of persistent accusations of political bias’, with St Bede’s in opposition. The judges were left with a tough decision before choosing Rutherford as the winner.

In addition, the Haller Shield for best debating newcomer this year was presented to Filippo.

The Inter-House Debating competition is one of many debating opportunities for students at Worth. The Debating Society competes each year in the English-Speaking Union MACE, the Rotary Youth Speaks, Oxford Schools’ and Cambridge Schools’ competitions. In addition, Worth won the Hartland International Debating Competition in 2024.

In the last fortnight the Society has enjoyed two notable successes, reaching the district semi-final of the Rotary Youth Speaks competition, as well as progressing to the second round of the ESU competition.

Congratulations to our two finalists who each debated superbly.

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