Teachers

George-Hakon is an experienced debating and public speaking coach, having worked for over ten years with a variety of schools, universities, and educational organisations both in the UK and internationally. He joined the ISSOS Debate coaching team for the first time in Cambridge 2024.

He has held roles as the Debating and Public Speaking Coach for Francis Holland School in London and Programme Director for Debate Mate. He has also taught at the Debate Academy in 2022 and the Debate Summer School in Japan in 2019.

Outside of ISSOS, George-Hakon is the Director of Debating and Public Speaking at City of London School for Girls.

Petra is a hugely talented and experienced Debate Coach who has spent three summers with us at ISSOS so far.

She has an MSc in Politics and Communication from LSE and coached the Croatian National Debate Team for several years, helping them achieve a variety of international titles, as well as medals from the World Schools Debate Championship.

Petra has also worked with the International Debate Education Association, Zagreb Student Debate Forum, and TalkMaze to help create national curriculums and teaching materials.

She is another of our teaching staff who has taught multiple subjects at ISSOS, as she also has 6 years experience as a professional journalist (in digital media, print, radio, and TV), and as a teacher of journalistic writing and editing.

Sesh first taught Debate for ISSOS in 2025. Sesh is the Graduate Debater in Residence at Eastbourne College, where he leads the Debate and Model United Nations programmes and teaches Year 9 Information Technology.

Sesh holds a Bachelor's in Information Technology from Nelson Mandela University, a Postgraduate Diploma in Management in Information Systems (Cybersecurity) from the University of Cape Town, and an MSc in Computer Science from the University of Brighton.

He has coached a range of international teams, including the ICYD Debater EFL Finalists 2024 (Korean Delegation), the Kenyan National Team (2024 & 2025), and the South African Schools Development Team (2023).

Sesh is also an experienced adjudicator, having been invited to Oxford IV, Cambridge IV, LSE IV and Manchester IV. He is a three-time Southern African University Championship Finalist Judge, served as Deputy Chief Adjudicator at the Pan African University Debate Championship 2024 (Uganda) and African Top Universities 2023, and adjudicated at the World University Debate Championship in Vietnam in 2024.