Students from a Potters Bar school have been crowned the winners of the Senior Final of Youth Speaks debate competition and will progress to the regional finals. 

Six teams from schools across Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire and Hertfordshire met at Bishop's Hatfield Girls' School in Woods Avenue to take part in the competition.

The team from Potters Bar's Dame Alice Owen’s School were awarded first place and the team from Bishop's Hatfield Girls' were second in a tight competition which saw just three points separate the top four teams.

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Each team comprised of a chair, proposer and opposer from school Years 10-13, who each debated a topic of their choice.

In addition, Archie Phillips from Dame Alice Owen’s was awarded the prize of Best Chair.

                                                                                                         

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In the earlier intermediate competition - for students in school Years 7 to 9 - Ada Hayvaci, also from Dame Alice Owen’s, received the prize for Best Opposer. 

The winning team now goes forward to the regional final in Cambridge to compete against winning district teams from East Anglia and Essex for a chance to advance to the national final.

In the borough, the competitions are organised by the Rotary clubs of Brookmans Park, Hatfield, Potters Bar and Welwyn Garden City.