Tillie and Miranda journeyed across to Oxford for the Oxford Union Schools’ Debating Finals Day, which saw them compete with 120 of the best debating teams from the UK and across the world.  

This is difficult and intense debating, with just fifteen minutes to prepare for each motion (without access to any research materials or ability to consult teacher-coaches) and to get to venue before each debate begins. This was the first time that Tillie and Miranda had broken for Finals Day, matching the achievement by Dally and Nikita in reaching the online Finals Day of 2021. 

Tillie and Miranda competed in four debates in the British Parliamentary Style in an event which lasted nine hours. 

In the first debate, This House opposes the narrative that women can have it all, they came second as Opening Opposition. The second debate saw Gresham’s taking on the role of Opening Government defending the motion In areas of socioeconomic deprivation, this House would prioritize training students in vocational skills as opposed to traditional academic subjects and being placed third. The third debate, This House believes that the development of AGI (Artificial General Intelligence) should be restricted exclusively to government-controlled or funded institutions, saw Tillie and Miranda in the role of Closing Opposition and here they took a risk which did not pay off which saw them ranked fourth. Their final debate was This House opposes career politicians and they finished strongly, placed third as Closing Government. 

Overall, this gave the team a very creditable four points and, whilst not sufficient to reach the top eight in the competition who qualified for the semi-finals, they acquitted themselves extremely well throughout.