Lichfield Cathedral School

Year 9 pupils involved in the Debating Society at Lichfield Cathedral School held a very important debate recently on the motion: Exams Should be Abolished.

Chaired by Thomas Newton, the society held two debates: firstly, in front of pupils from Years 7, 8 and 9; and secondly in front of pupils from Years 4, 5 and 6 – with differing results.

In the first debate, with the older pupils, the debating team of Nuri Abukhalil, Scott Dawson and Sam Butcher managed to convince their contemporaries that exams should remain and won by a vote of 16 to 13.

However, the younger children in Years 4, 5 and 6 failed to agree and were convinced by the team of Robert Markland and Jack Darby that exams should be abolished and voted in favour of abolition by a majority of 20 votes to 14.

Mrs Joanna Churton, Head of English at the Cathedral School, who also runs the Debating Society, said “This was a very entertaining and lively debate with many worthwhile points raised both for and against the motion. The resulting close votes show that good arguments were made on both sides and perhaps also indicate that not all of our pupils think that exams are a bad thing!”