Sydney Russell School pupils make their case during the Debate Mate competition.
- Credit: Comic Relief
Pupils at a Dagenham school finished runners-up in a national debating competition.
The Sydney Russell School finished ahead of 129 teams across the UK in the Debate Mate competition, discussing curing malaria inspired by lessons learnt from the Covid-19 pandemic.
In the final, they debated how education can help beat malaria - which claims a child’s life every two minutes - against the West Midlands’ Shireland Collegiate Academy.
In front of a virtual audience of more than 300 people, the Dagenham pupils argued for the proposition that the best way to cure the disease is education.