17/07/2026
Abbeyfield School Shines at the Athelstan Festival of Speech and Debate 2026!
We are incredibly proud of our Key Stage 3 students who represented Abbeyfield School at this year's Athelstan Festival of Speech and Debate (AFSaD) 2026, hosted by Malmesbury School.
This was Abbeyfield School's first time taking part in this Trust-wide event, where we competed against four other secondary schools. Accompanied by Mr Evans (School Librarian) and Mr Norgrove, our talented team of 11 students took part across every category, including Speech, Poetry Recital, Dramatic Reading, and Debating.
Our students achieved some fantastic results:
🥇 Gold Medal – Poetry Recital
A Year 8 student earned the Gold Medal for her outstanding performance of Rollercoasters Make Me Sad by Em Beihold, delivering the spoken poetic lyrics of the song with confidence, emotion, and flair.
🥉 Bronze Medal – Speech Competition
Madeline B in Year 7 secured the Bronze Medal with her thought-provoking speech: "Why Social Media Should Be Banned for Under 13s?"
🎤 Debate Competition Success
Both Abbeyfield debate teams performed brilliantly throughout the competition, with both teams reaching the semi-finals. The debate motion that our student had to debate about: “2026 is the National Year of Reading. Is celebrating reading a waste of time in today's world?”
In an impressive achievement, the two Abbeyfield teams faced each other in the semi-final, guaranteeing the school a place in the final.
Our Team A then progressed to the final, where they faced a strong and experienced team from Sir William Romney's School. Although they narrowly missed out on first place, they delivered an excellent performance and finished as deserving runners-up. Congratulations to Luke, Ethan, Alex and George for this fantastic achievement.
A huge thank you goes to Mr Evans, our School Librarian, for organising all the logistics and supporting the preparation and coaching of our debate teams. We would also like to thank the teachers in the English Department for mentoring and encouraging students across the other competition categories.
At Abbeyfield School, we believe that literacy and oracy are powerful tools for success. Events such as AFSaD help students develop confidence, communication skills, critical thinking, and creativity—skills that will benefit them throughout their education and beyond. We are incredibly proud of every student who took part and represented the school with enthusiasm, courage, and determination.
Well done to all our competitors—you were outstanding ambassadors for Abbeyfield School!
