Every year Durham Sixth Form Centre enters teams into inter-schools debate competitions. After a very good showing in the annual European Youth Parliament Inter-Schools Debating Competition in March, a team was also entered for the North-East Regional Debating Matters competition held in Durham at Pemberton Buildings near Durham Cathedral. The other competing schools were Barnard Castle School, Gosforth Academy, Durham Johnston, Leeds Grammar School and Yarm School.

There were six debates within the competition. Each one involves one school team defending a proposed motion whilst a second team attacks the proposition. Teams give opening and closing speeches, whilst the audience and judging panel are able to make interventions during the debate, asking insightful questions about the positions of the proposers and opposers. At the end of the debate the judging panel deliberates and decides the winner on a set of predesignated principles. Each debate is chaired by a small team of experienced debaters. 

Later in the day the judging panels (made up of local dignitaries) decide which two teams reach the final and who are the eventual winners of the competition. Teams are judged on team participation, enthusiasm, strength of arguments, coherence and range of arguments, reference to relevant examples and overall debating style.

The debates this year concerned the pre-designated subjects of cancel culture, whether health workers should be able to strike, commercial surrogacy and billionaires owning social media. The

Durham Sixth Form Centre team was made up of Lucy Bowden, Anna Jamieson, Cameron Passey and Wynne Wu who were all required to do research, preparation and organisation for the debate and the position they had been allocated beforehand. In the first round Anna and Wynne were successful in arguing that billionaires should be involved in social media, whilst Cameron and Lucy were also successful in arguing health-worker strikes should be limited. This meant the team had reached the final, and Wynne and Cameron successfully argued against cancel culture, emerging as the overall winners of the competition. 

Prizes include books for the team members and the school and a trip to the House of Lords. Additionally, Cameron won the prize for best individual debater and won a work experience at a leading law firm and subscription to Prospect magazine.

The debate competition also proved to be an extremely useful exercise in developing our debating skills and styles, and to raising our awareness of issues that are of importance in contemporary society. The competition was ultimately an enjoyable and very successful day of intellectual argument and a chance to compete with other sixth forms from across the region.