Published on: 21 May 2020




The ‘heat is on’ as all eight Houses in the Senior School battle for this year’s House Arts competition glory.

The forthcoming weeks will see representatives from each House compete in a variety of activities including Public Speaking, Debating and Chess, culminating with a final round of competition in Week 1 of Term 3.

After a slight delay to kick-off in early March, the current standings are:

  • Public Speaking – Jupp and Wolsey with a lead in Pool A (210 and 203 points respectively)
  • Debating – Wolsey and Craigie with a lead in Pool A (224 and 220 points respectively)
  • Chess – Moyes and Jupp with a lead in Pool A

Director of Activities, Mr Neil Saggers said the House Arts is an annual opportunity for boys in the Senior School to engage and observe in Arts activities.

“This morning in Debating we heard some great arguments, both for and against the topic, Schools need to teach more practical life skills,” said Mr Saggers.

“In Public Speaking we heard some compelling arguments surrounding the topics, Learning a second language is very rewarding and Part time jobs provide insights for students.”

“In light of COVID-19 disruptions, this year we’ve had to scale back on numbers. For example, going from 80 to 90 spectators in a room to just 40. And in Chess, we’ve gone from 27 to 18 total competitors, working out to be three representatives per year group, per House.”

Helping adjudicate this year’s House Arts competition is a panel comprised of teachers and Year 12 Debaters.

The House Arts Competition leads onto the House Shout which takes place during Week 5 of Term 3.