The Winton Cup

29 April 2016

On Friday 22 April, the School welcomed fourteen Prep Schools to compete in the annual humanities competition, The Winton Cup. The competition is really starting to take off and this year twice the number of schools were involved in the competition compared to last year. The idea of the day is to inspire and stimulate the exploration of humanities’ subjects and challenge participants to consider how to think creatively and critically, to reason and to ask questions. The competition was named in honor of Old Stoic, Sir Nicholas Winton, MBE. Sir Nicholas was a humanitarian who organised the rescue of 669 mostly Jewish children from German-occupied Czechoslovakia on the eve of the Second World War in an operation later known as the Czech Kindertransport.

The day included sessions on Philosophy and Religion, Politics, History, History of Art and Geography. Each session involved an array of engaging activities that linked to the central theme of Western Democracy. With current debate being heavily affected by issues such as extremism, EU membership and the US presidential election, it seemed fitting to teach about the values that so much of our lives depend upon. Pupils were challenged to participate in debates about Bentham’s utilitarianism, representative democracy, the greatest historical threats to Western Democracy, the case for staying in or leaving the EU as well as an activity based on the British Worthies.

We were delighted to welcome Speaker John Bercow MP to deliver a keynote speech to our participants, he spoke with clarity, wit and passion, as always. The competition was incredibly tight with several schools contesting for first place. In the end, Sir Thomas Fremantle just pipped Beachborough, Chesham and Summer Fields to take the Cup, and Ashfold took the Year 8 competition. It was a thoroughly enjoyable day and we look forward to next year’s event.

Charlie Barker, Head of Politics