Head's Newsletter 12 February 2021

feedback took place almost entirely in French, and that they had been asked to prepare both sides of eachmotion, to be toldonly just before the start of each debatewhether theywould be arguing for or against. As well as the quality of their French and their arguments, debaters were marked on their ability tousenotes as aprompt rather thana script, their teamwork, attitude and ability to react to the opposition. Considering that the eventual qualifiers all walked awaywith combined scores of between 24 and 26 outof30for their threedebates,Tiffin1andTiffin2 can feel confident that they made an impression, with scores of 20 and 19 respectively, finishing aheadof teams fromStOlave’sandDulwichCollege intheirtwopools. For me, the highlight of the evening came nearly four hours after it had started: a debriefMeet after the results, at which our students’ enthusiasm for and enjoyment of the event was plain to see. We now know far more about the event and the high standard expected, and I feel that competition for places (witha capof two teams per school) is going to be fierce this time next year. And who knows? By then, we may even be able to do it in person…

On Tuesday 2 February, two pairs of Year 12 students (ElliotLoweandMikelaPerssonCaracciolo, Freya JohnandAmberWest) took part in the tenth annual Joutes oratoires (literally ‘oratory jousts’), a debating competition organised under the auspices of the Institut Français. This was the quarter-final for the London area. Despite our preparation, I certainly felt a certain amount of trepidation throughout Tuesday, as this was a first not only for the students but for the French department as a whole, inspiration having come fromsuccess insimilaroutings inGerman. A lookat the list of competitors made me excited and nervous in equal measure: if the samewas true for ourstudents, theyhaddonewell tokeepitquiet! We all loggedon to the zoom link at 16.15 sharp – the four students plus Martin Williams and I, who had been brave (cf. naïve) enough to volunteer our services as adjudicators. This was quite the largest such call I have ever been on, with nearly 150 accounts signed in from a total of 16 schools and including twovolunteer adjudicators fromtheSwiss embassy.Theregisterreadlikea ‘Who’sWho’of the capital region’s most prestigious institutions, from Eton College and KCSWimbledon to St Olave’s and GreyCoatHospital. Each of our teams debatedmotions on civil liberty in the pandemic, the perceived threat of artificial intelligence, and the green revolution – challenge enoughbeforeyouconsider that thedebateand