Youth Speaks Competition

On Wednesday 8th February, Shaftesbury School hosted the Youth Speaks Debate Competition, in partnership with the local Rotary Club. Now in its second year, the event was a huge success, with teams representing Shaftesbury and Blandford presenting a debate on a topic of their choice, with students proposing, opposing and chairing their conversations. The audience included staff, parents, local Rotarians and even our MP, Simon Hoare. The debate topics were diverse and included the harm caused by social media, and the gender pay gap. The standard of debates was very high, and the judges had a tough job to pick their winning teams. We congratulate the Blandford Team for winning the Junior competition and Shaftesbury School were delighted to win the Senior competition. Both teams progressed to the district finals held in Romsey competing against other winning teams from the region, providing an excellent opportunity for our students. We would like to thank Chef Clive and his brilliant team that provided a delicious Mediterranean buffet to our guests - like last year it certainly did not disappoint! Well done to all involved and we look forward to hosting further competitions next year.