Early on Thursday morning this week, a group of 20 pupils embarked on a long journey to Queen Anne’s School, Caversham to compete in the Foundation Schools’ Model United Nations competition.  We arrived raring to start the lobbying phase of the competition. This is where the pupils of each chosen committee debate and try to convince each other to support their resolutions in order to get enough votes to get through to the next stage.  All Sutton Valence teams competed well and secured a healthy number of signatures.  There were some excellent points of information from Katie Lang and Amelia Semmens.  During the lobbying phase, Elliot Gooding and Oliver Carter secured the greatest number of signatures in their committee, followed by brilliant debating.  As a result they progressed to compete in the General Assembly with their resolution on the problems surrounding ageism.

After a fulfilling lunch, we enjoyed a speech by guest speaker Nour Sakr who discussed the integration of Syrian refugees in Europe. Talking from her personal experiences in Syria, Nour explained the work she has done to establish charities and how she has lobbied local governments to improve the integration of refugees into communities in the UK.  She presented many fascinating points and there were some very sobering moments too.

After this, it was time for Sutton Valence pupils to support Oliver and Elliot in their nerve-racking speech delivered to the General Assembly. With keen, witty points the two boys debated well, answering very tough questions pitched by the floor.  With excellent professionalism in their responses and valid points, the two boys managed to get their motion passed and therefore were among the winners of the overall competition.  Lara Savage and Oliver Carter also won awards for their skills in asking and answering questions during the morning and afternoon sessions, winning themselves awards for debating excellence.

Special mention should also go to Fourth Formers James Pepler and Struben Savage and Fifth Formers Holly Clark and Tom Llewellyn for making their MUN debut. They were the youngest participants on the day and did a sterling job. All in all, it was another successful Sutton Valence performance at the annual Foundation MUN competition.

Elliot Gooding​

Lower Sixth Form