LEARNING
difference or at least to raise awareness of issues which I believe to be incredibly important.” Ella’s honesty when addressing concerns that particularly interest her, lacks any degree of contrivance or calculation. She doesn’t dredge up random items of fashionable outrage or tick boxes relating to social and political awareness just for the sake of it; she can justify every opinion that she holds and she is proud of that. She is not virtue signalling, she’s putting her views into a public theatre and sitting on the side of the stage, keen to take any questions. Ella is a thought leader in the flood of student opinion that now ebbs and flows into every corner of the School. It is on fliers in stairwells. It is in submissions to various student governing councils. It is integrated into tutor group discussions.
It sends little ripples throughout the pools of conversation that groups of girls mull over in their break times. If girls like Ella are chafing against one thing, it’s ambivalence. For all the girls in this story, ambivalence isn’t a solution to anything. Sarah-Rose Crofskey, Lauren Chee and Victoria Wright debate together as a team; very successfully given their progression through a fast-growing, highly competitive and prominent league that many secondary schools fight hard to dominate. These strong and articulate young women are repeat offenders when it comes to occupying the platforms offered to them at Dio to articulate their views. They debate, they occupy space on soapboxes, they are passionate about ethics and they all appear to view English lessons as a theatre for analytical sport in addition to the more traditional elements of lessons.
Above: The finalists in the 2021 Soapbox Competition (L to R): Ella Riley (12NE), Amelia Avery (9RO), Siobhan Murphy (9SE), Eloise Voss (8MI), Shania Kumar (13ED), Alice Lott (7RO), Pascale Vincent (11NE), Alex Wackrow (11CO) and Lizzie Peters (11CO).
Sarah-Rose is deeply dedicated to all areas of analytical discussion, taking any opportunity to argue or share an opinion, whether that is through debate, ethics Olympiads, or Model UN. She says being able to think about things critically and to walk around issues observing them from different perspectives avoids the perennial pitfall of getting stuck in a tedious and sometimes misleading echo chamber. Her view is that social and intellectual impairment is caused when people develop an aversion to actually discussing ideas. DIO TODAY
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