Debate England
The England Schools Debating Team
Debate England, part of National Debate Team, is responsible for the selection and coaching of the national schools debating team for England, and for England's proud tradition of success at the World Schools Debating Championships since 1988.
Team England is one of the most successful countries in the world: we won the tournament in 2014 and 2016, and the best speaker in the world came from England in 2014 and 2017.
Meet the team
We are delighted to announce Team England 2023! Representing us at the World Schools Debating Championships this year will be... Alexander Chan, Alexander McCallum, Ellie Bean, Maya Kapila and Olivia Carp!
We will be competing at WSDC in Vietnam, as well as at numerous other warm up tournaments across the year. Training will take place in person and online, with expert debaters from across the world coming in to assist in coaching the team.
Last year's team was composed of Nic Rackow (Captain), Helen Chau, Maxwell DeLorenzo, Ellie Bean and Maya Kapila. The team went to Prague for the duration of WSDC, where they were joined by teams from across Europe, including The Netherlands, Germany, Spain, Hungary and Israel, and in which Nic, Maxwell and Maya all placed in the top 10 speakers in the Western Division, and Maxwell ranked as the best speaker in the Western Division.
In addition to WSDC, Team England 2022 attended 3 other warm up tournaments last year and enjoyed huge success, including getting to the Semi Finals at the Harvard Invitational, and winning the Four Nations tournament in Edinburgh.
This year's coaching team is made up of Andrew Fitch, Louis Collier and Issy Fidderman (Head Coaches), supported by Zarina Bell-Gam and Rachel Tait (Assistant Coaches) and Nic Rackow (Junior Coach).
Meet the coaches
Co-coach
Issy Fidderman
Co-coach
Louis Collier
Our development squads
As part of National Debate Team's commitment to widening access to world-class debate coaching and ensuring that the national team is truly representative of England's school debaters, Debate England operates six development squads, of six students each, to support those who show potential to develop their skills ready for the next round of selections.
Each squad, of six students, will receive 18 hours of world class coaching from one of our expert mentors, will be invited to every Team England general knowledge lecture, and will practice against the team.
Debate England's management
Debate England is run by the National Debating Committee for England, chaired by the Team Manager, Andrew Fitch. The committee and all its activities are an integral part of National Debate Team, a registered charity.