My experience of House Arts

On the 1st February, there was an annual event held at Concord College – House Arts. This year, the theme for the show was ‘embracing changes’. Most members, especially the Sixth Form Prefects, had dedicated much time to the show, which had turned out to be stunningly excellent.

For me, in my first year at Concord, I joined in with one of the four categories, House Song. Our House Prefects worked very hard to put the chosen songs together and designed the movement and choreography for each sentence. It was a long process from 0 to 1. Remembering the lyrics and the tone was the first step. The group gradually got bigger and bigger, and by the third meeting in our preparation, we almost had everyone from our house turn up. At this point, most people were already able to sing without hesitating. The Prefects then added the harmony sung by six people in the group, just as they say, ‘it is not very difficult to get from 1 to 2.’

Although there were only two weeks for the group to practice, every member had been concentrated and inclusive; we cooperated with each other quite well and managed to get through all the difficulties in the practices, such as unmatched movements, singing beats and off-key tone.

During the lengthy time of practice, it was a good chance to interact with new people and learn new skills. Concord’s House Arts is a way of bringing people together and enabling them to become more comprehensive collectively.

Haowen – F4

Debate Ed 2019

On 16^th March 2019, Form 3 participated in a day-long debating competition called ‘Debate Ed’ at Shrewsbury College. For the first part of Concord’s academic year, a dozen Form 3 students have dedicated an hour per week to develop their skills in debating, in ‘Speak Society’. Although there are a variety of public speaking abilities in the group, each student has shown tremendous diligence and perseverance throughout the course of the year. They were ready for a debate competition.

The competition consisted of three rounds and then a final – a British parliamentary style debate: two proposition and opposition teams. The eight students from Concord who attended were in teams of two and had prepared for one motion in advance: ‘This house would require citizens to pass a general knowledge test to be able to vote’. This was the motion for the first round and I am aware that Concord debated well, receiving 1^st and 2^nd place scores from the judges. In my experience, I used my five-minute time allowance, following a concise structure and logically developed arguments to earn a 1^st place finish. The training I had received from Concord and Speak Soc had really helped, especially debating with older students from other year groups. The second and third rounds covered women in the media industry and the NHS system. Concord’s Team D managed to reach the finals and performed well considering the high standard of competition.

Due to Concord’s kind and sociable nature, all teams thoroughly enjoyed interacting with the other schools, displaying admirable sportsmanship. For those who had not attended a debate competition before, Debate Ed served as a good experience – experiencing public speaking, debating against people who they hadn’t met before, performing under the stress and time pressure of the competition. Whilst the debate competitions I have attended before have been heavily judged on content, Debate Ed was more judged on style and delivery. Therefore, I thoroughly enjoyed receiving feedback from the judges on how to develop my public speaking style, making me a more well-rounded public speaker. To conclude, the Form 3s represented Concord College exceptionally, gaining both experience and enjoyment from the event.

Seb – F3