Mia and George to represent King’s Ely at Houses of Parliament

Two King’s Ely Senior students will get to have their viewpoints heard by prominent judge Sir Brian Leveson.

Secondary school students across South East Cambridgeshire have been competing in this year’s Inter Schools Parliamentary Debating Competition. The contest, pioneered and organised by local MP Lucy Frazer, is now in its fifth year.

Year 10 students Sam Barber, George Collier, Mollie Egan, Isabella Boutwood, Rhys Williams, Richard Garrard, William Buckingham and Mia Gray represented King’s Ely in the first round of the competition on November 16th. Ms Frazer attended the event and enjoyed what proved to be a spirited and closely contested debate discussing whether the age of marriage should be raised to 18.

After much deliberation, George and Mia were announced as the overall winners. They now go forward to debate against the winning duo from each of the other competing schools at the finals, which will be judged by the current Head of Criminal Justice, the Right Honourable Sir Brian Leveson, at the Houses of Parliament in December.

Ms Frazer said: ‘The level of debate at King’s Ely was extremely high and choosing the winners was no easy job. I am so heartened to see how well prepared all the participants were and how persuasively each argued their case. I look forward to seeing Mia and George in December and wish them the best of luck in the final. Enabling young people to discover their voice and use it effectively is a life-changing skill and I hope that encouraging as many of our pupils as possible to have the opportunity to do just that will give them the confidence they need once they leave school to put forward their opinions, lead teams and communicate well.’

To discover more about opportunities at King’s Ely, please visit www.kingsely.org.