THE Wellington School Philosophy team returned to King’s College, Taunton, in a bid to retain their trophy as winners of the Inter-School Philosothon competition. 

The team of 11 young philosophers impressed judges with their insightful contributions to discussions but ultimately had to surrender the trophy to Bristol Grammar School.

The Wellington team in the fourth Inter-School Philosothon consisted of Reyhan Taraq, Will Davis, Hamish Hunter, Marianne Baly, Dak Natakala, Lizzy Fanshawe, Edmund Tallack, Freddie Renyard, Sophie Bennett, Isabel Elliott and Amy Green.

They were given a number of philosophical stimuli, including a Dostoevsky passage and an issue raised by the Charlie Hebdo attack – which they had to discuss while being judged by teams of eminent philosophers. Katja Sass, Wellington School’s Head of RS and team coach, said: “The joy of Philosothons is that they do not aim to identify and reward the loudest or the most confident but rather to bring out of students their original ideas, help them to formulate complex ideas and questions and play their part in moving towards answers through courteous and inclusive questioning and discussion.”