Barry school pupils take first place at 2019 Wales Schools Debating Championships
Vale pupils outshone their opponents to take first place at this year’s Wales Schools Debating Championships. 
On Monday 16 December, Ysgol Gyfun Bro Morgannwg pupils Sara Jones and Rhys Griffiths were crowned the 2019 winning team at Tredegar House, Newport.
The winner of this year’s Individual speaker award went to Amelia Furlong from Cardinal Newman RC School, for her motion on; this house would ban plastics from 2025.
This year’s runner up Individual award went to Alice Kember from Howells Schools. This is the 18th and final year of the Wales Schools Debating Championship, which has involved up to 60 schools competing each year.
Topics debated on the day included democracy, mental health issues, democracy and justice.
CEO of the WCIA and debating final judge, Susie Ventris –Field
said: “As always with this competition, I feel inspired listening to young people set out arguments on difficult topics and often having to argue a view that is not their own.
“It is great to see them develop empathy, public speaking skills and critical thinking. These are such essential life skills and it had re our determination to find funding for the future”
The WCIA team would like to thank Tredegar House for hosting and The Hodge Foundation for their support over the years.
A judge in the final and Head of BBC Radio Cymru, Colin Paterson, said: “I took part in schools that argued when I was younger, and it has given me a lot of skills to do the job that I do now, as I had not taken an academic route.
“You can see that this competition gives people the confidence to debate, to rebut, how to formulate and express arguments and I think using these skills is extremely important. “