American School of London - 7th January 2026

For our first session back for 2026 we began with a newsround discussion, in particular covering what is happening in Venezuela and the potential reasons behind President Trump’s actions. All students then discussed the highlights of their festive period and any New Year’s resolutions they had made.

Our first major topic for discussion was what new language they would like to learn, which led onto a small debate as to whether Latin should be a mandatory subject. Our first formal debate of the day split the group into whether it was better to give or receive gifts. This led to some interesting discussions, with people afterwards continuing the debate with their own personal opinions.

Our main debate of the day looked at whether we should only eat food produced in Britain. Groups were given a small amount of time to do some research at this point, in order to reinforce their arguments and both groups came up with strong arguments. 

We finished the session looking at Hockney’s work “Mr and Mrs Clarke and Percy”, which created some differing opinions in the group, many being amazed at the amount it would be worth if sold today.

This was a great first session to the year, well done all!