Socratic Club & Nimble Minds Vocabulary, Problem-Solving & Debating Group Workshop & Tour of the Churchill War Rooms - 15th March 2025

We greatly enjoyed working with Nimble Minds at the Churchill War Rooms for our vocabulary and debating workshop. 

We began the session by splitting into groups. This allowed us to explain a range of complicated words (often with a double meaning) inspired by the surroundings of the museum, which the children then acted out in an imaginative game of charades. Their interpretations of words like claustrophobic and indomitable were both creative and amusing. Using photos and caricatures, and posters from our private room (and wider museum), we explored adjectives and concepts including inter alia sarcasm, morale, austere and perseverance. This was followed by a recall game to reinforce the words learned. We then assembled into pairs, using team-work to tackle a pencil-and-paper verbal reasoning related exercise involving unscrambling anagrams. A crossword/word-search was also covered with much enthusiasm. 

The groups then divided again for a debating session. 

We worked on skills including: 

• Body Language

• Active Listening

• Teamwork &

• Rebuttal

  
  

Given the complexity of the topics covered by the museum and the words we focussed on, we placed great emphasis on finding a middle ground or via media. We also discussed Winston Churchill's nobel prize for literature and his involvement in the Mulberry Harbours, so pivotal to the success of the D-Day landings in 1944.

Our warm-up questions asked:

• 'what makes a great leader? what words would you used to describe a great leader?'

• 'describe a time when you have demonstrated leadership or when you have helped in a team?

Our debating motions looked at:

'Should history lessons focus on the history of your own country? Or should they look at the world?'

'This House thinks reading, writing and mathematics are more important than technology'

'Following world book day, do you think fiction books are more important than non-fiction books?'

It was great to see superb POIs, rebuttal and active listening, so that the voting moved on each occasion at the second telling.

We concluded the workshop with a tour of the museum, including audio. This was truly captivating—a place where one could easily spend hours.

The map room, original telephones and cabinet tables thoroughly impressed the students, along with the spaces assigned for Winston Churchill.

In addition, it was very impressive to hear the groups imbed their discourse with vocabulary from the workshop as well as examples from the museum. 

Above all, in light of Churchill's words 'attitude is a little thing that makes a big difference', we were hugely taken with the outstanding approach of the students to the tasks and opportunities to learn within the museum setting.

Very well done all!