This week saw further excellent sessions with our Kensington Wade Debating & Public Speaking Clubs.
Our skill focus this week looked at Active Listening - and how best to engage with other speeches and points - with rebuttal and constructive supporting arguments.
Our newsround saw reference to Taylor Swift's Paris concert, the Northern Lights, VE day, and 9th May anniversary commemorations in Russia and the return of the King to public duties.
For our warm up we then turned to our interview style philosophical question with an emphasis on 'why'/justification?:
'Is sport more important than music?'
Here arguments centred on health, both physical and mental, and encouraging different skills as well as teamwork. The majority voted for sport but many sought a middle ground that wanted a balance of both in education.
Our main debate looked at the current discussion in Westminster politics (and nationally) on school absence linked to illness (in addition to the same workplace debate).
We asked in our motion, 'Should this House increase the fine in September from £60 to £80?'
Voting rejected the motion, with the majority arguing that this simply would not make a difference (and in many instances families had legitimate and important reasons for absence), but there was a unanimous view that more needed to be done to understand why children are missing school for days on end (without a reason) and that greater care and attention would be needed there, rather than a straightforward fine. It was a very balanced and nuanced discussion with tremendous maturity. Well done all!
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