May McCool and Hazel Carroll

Thursday the 24 October saw the annual 1608 Royal Schools Debating Competition between the five Royal Schools of Ulster. This year, the competition was hosted by RSD and was organised by the newest addition to the History department, Miss Beacom, alongside her team of Year 13 and 14 debaters.

The evening started with members of RSD’s debating society, along with Miss Beacom and the Headmaster, welcoming pupils and teachers from the other schools.  After a delicious meal prepared by the kitchen staff, the debaters and spectators followed their time keeper up to their designated rooms to start Round 1 of the debates.

The lively debates ranged from motions such as “This House believes schools should have the right to examine their pupils’ social networking sites” to “This House believes same sex couples should be allowed to adopt” and “This House believes the internet does more harm than good.”  The semi finalists were Cavan, both Armagh teams and one of the teams from RSD.

Sadly, RSD didn’t make it through to the final which was won by The Royal School Armagh, who lifted the trophy for best team and had the ‘best individual speaker’.

The night was a great success, with all participants and supporters being involved and exhibiting great team spirit throughout all of the debates. We are already looking forward to next year’s competition, and hope this time to take away a trophy for RSD!

Bethany Wilson, Year 14