Sunday promised to be an exciting day in Cambridge as all of our students from St Catharine’s and St Edmund’s prepared to take part in the Great Debate. This is a big event for all of the students, who had prepared themselves in the days coming up to this exciting afternoon.

In the morning, students enjoyed a good breakfast in college, where they discussed the exciting prospect of the rest of the day. This debate was a particularly difficult one as they were going to discuss the complex issue of radicalisation and its relation to technology in the modern age. It was clear from this motion that it was going to be an interesting afternoon, and everyone headed for the Cambridge Union to get going.

Before the debate began there was keynote speech from Rebecca O’Dell who discussed her work and research in the field of psychology in order to get the proceedings off to an informative start – then it was onto the real debate with volunteers from each group coming to the stage to argue their case strongly.

It is important to mention that for most of our students in Cambridge, English is not their first language and so it showed real courage for these students to take part in the debate. All of the students spoke with accuracy and fluency about this challenging topic, and we commend everyone who got involved. It is not easy standing up in front of nearly a hundred people, however, all of our students showed great bravery and skill in making their points with respect and sensitivity. Well done to everyone for showing true commitment.

Once the debate was over, it was time for the students to enjoy a relaxing evening in college as they wound down after a busy day. With the end of the first week coming to a close, students now look forward to new challenges in their lessons, and it is great to see them gelling as a whole cohort.