Year 8 Balloon Debate entertains the boarders

Representatives from 8B1 and 8B2 were pitted together to persuade the audience (all the boarders) that they were worthy of keeping their place in the rapidly deflating hot air balloon. This year, the characters were historical figures or simply celebrities. We had a wide range of persona: Maggie Smith, Neymar, Arton Senna, Bear Grylls, Mother Theresa, Issac Newton, William the Conqueror, Winston Churchill and Steve Jobs to name a few.

All twelve children from Year 8 did a remarkable job. It is not easy standing up on stage in front of your peers trying to convince, persuade, undermine the others and assure the audience that your place in the balloon is worthy of their vote. Much humour was evident and not surprisingly those that engaged the most with the audience seemed to win through. After round one, six contestants were thrown out of the balloon leaving Steve Irwin, Maggie Smith, Mother Theresa, Neymar, Arton Senna and Winston Churchill in the balloon.

After some convincing arguments and attestations, the balloon was emptied of a further three candidates leaving just Neymar (played by Denis M), Maggie Smith (Jemima D) and Steve Irwin (Seb K). After some emotional pleas and comical moments, the enthralled audience voted overwhelmingly in favour of the charismatic Neymar. Denis did a wonderful job to win through even though many of us more senior folk were left in despair that the school had voted to save a football celebrity!