Debating

Many of you will recall that last year the Sherborne Qatar Debating Society was pleased to announce that our Senior Girls’ Team was crowned Qatar National Champions 2021. The fantastic performance of our pupils at the debate was streamed online and broadcasted on different social media platforms. Huge congratulations again to Year 12 pupils Shahd Al-Hajri, Turkia Al Thani and Year 13 pupil Janine Obiri for their outstanding performances at this national event. Shahd was awarded fourth best speaker of the league and Turkia second place. Turkia was also awarded best speaker at the Open Grand Final. This year, the dates of the competition coincided with our school half term and the mock examinations in November which meant we were unable to join the girls’ competition.

However, our boys’ team successfully represented Sherborne and attended the Qatar Schools Debate League competitions. Please join me in congratulating the following Year 10 pupils: Henry Kakkad, Mohamed Abdelrahman, Shek Chong, and Khalid Al Marri who all successfully participated in the Qatar Schools Debate League in the senior section this year.

At this national championship, over 300 student debaters from independent and international schools debated for over eight hours on different motions. I look forward to supporting them further as the competitions will be more frequent from next year.

The Sherborne Debating club has been excellent this year and we have attended numerous online events and engaged in several debates within our school. I have been able to develop my public speaking skills, as well as my ability to quickly think of a counterpoint to ensure victory in a debate. Debating has also greatly increased my self-confidence and I am now much more able to speak clearly and coherently in front of an audience. Most importantly, debating has improved my critical thinking and I now understand issues on a much deeper level. By Henry Kakkad, Year 10

As a fresh recruit to the debating team, I have been graced with the opportunity to debate in a competitive environment against other schools. Every debate had a unique and challenging theme to it, presented to us in an engaging manner. What I enjoyed most about debating were the diverse motions introduced to us which all had disparate difficulties, allowing us to explore these topics with a different approach, and devising a creative method to present our ideas about the motion. By Shek Fung Chong, Year 10

Competing in debates with other schools over the last two years has been a great and phenomenal experience. I enjoyed all the interesting and unique motions, as well as refining my debating skills from tournament to tournament. All our opponents so far have been great, taking on experienced debaters who engaged with us in fierce and challenging debates. I’ve certainly come a long way from the level I was at last year and feel as though I’ve learned from many of my previous mistakes and considerably improved. I look forward to participating in more debates in the future, and further developing my skills. By Mohamed Khalid Hassan Abdelrahman, Year 10

After my performance at one of the debates two years ago, Ms. Khayari suggested I joined the trials for the recruitment of the national team which takes place every year at Qatar Debate. That time I was hesitant because I thought it would take my focus away from studies and distract me, but then why not try this opportunity? Since then, I am proud to say that I am a member of the Qatar National debate team, and it was and still is an interesting journey. I have learnt many skills from the countless debates they made us do, and I am thankful after all the training that I joined the team. Debating has become one of my favourite hobbies, and I can’t wait to see what the future holds. By Khalid Al Mari, Year 10 The debating team has been an enlightening experience. This is my first year doing it and it has been wonderful to be with students who have been doing debating for a while in my year and in other ones. Having a collaborative environment where everyone can discuss their views and can get different perspectives on debatable subjects has been very interesting and has helped me improve my relationships with peers. Throughout my time doing it, I’ve improved my ability to make constructive points, developed my argumentative skills and my overall confidence. Learning how to make my points is a great skill, both for any debating competitions and for the outside world. By Sana Ali, Year 10