Students from Queens’ School in Bushey have proven victorious – after winning the East Regional Final of the Institute of Ideas Debating Matters Competition.

Claire Thomas, Neelan Chharo, Fiorella Volonnino, Salma Begun, Isabel Annal, and Sam Munson, represented their Aldenham Road school at the competition on April 26.

The students showcased their debating skills and managed to pip five other schools from across the East of England to the winning post.

Having won this round they are amongst just eight schools competing for the national title at the competition’s final in July.

This is the fourth time students from the school have made it through to the national final of the competition, which is sponsored in the region by the Medical Research Council.

This year, the team have proved themselves to be impressive speakers, after winning their local qualifying round in autumn against three other schools.

At the Regional Finals however, the Queens’ team battled their way through three debates, emerging a regional champion of the competition that has been dubbed “the toughest in the UK”.

Queens’ students proved themselves adept at thinking on their feet, responding to tough questioning from a panel of three expert judges.

With impressive individual performances from all of the team on debates that included “Olympics: the greatest show on earth is worth it” and “We should introduce a system of presumed consent for organ donation” and “Population growth and rising living standards are unsustainable,” they have secured a place in the final against Northampton High School.

In the final debate, which asked if social media was rejuvenating politics, the teams appeared to be neck and neck as judges underlined how impressed they were with the strength of arguments.

Speaking before the final result was announced Professor Sheila Bird, Senior Scientist at the Medical Research Council’s Biostatistics Unit, and one of the judges for the final debate explained the MRC’s support of the competition: “We all thoroughly enjoyed listening to your arguments today, it has been a wonderful day and you all showed us what young people are really made of.”

In addition to winning the team top spot, team member Sam Munson, 18, won the prize for “Best Individual speaker”.

He was told that he embodied the “spirit of this competition” by a panel of five judges, who identified the best individual speakers of the day.

His team mate Salma Begum also won a prize, and Claire Thomas from Queens’ was awarded an honourable mention.

Speaking at the end of the day Sam Munson said: “We worked extremely hard for these debates – doing in-depth research, reading non-stop and having arguments with one another constantly.

“We are delighted to be going to the final!”

Teacher and students alike believe that they will go on to achieve great things at the 3-day Debating Matters Competition National Final in London in July.

Students have also won subscriptions to Encyclopaedia Britannica, six ‘Very Short Introductions’ each and an £500 worth of books for their school.