We had a great first session of this academic year with our St Andrew's debating and interview club. It was very good to catch up with old faces and meet new people too.
Having introduced and reviewed debating structure our skill of the week focussed on how to build proposition arguments and the best use of body language during a debate or interview setting.
For warm-up questions we looked at two questions (with 'Why'/justification absolutely crucial):
(i) What was the Highlight from your holidays? &
(ii) What are your goals for the new academic year?
From swimming in Greece, to time in the French Alps, Bulgaria, Turkey and the South of France to golf in the Swiss Alps and surfing in Cornwall, we had a tremendous array of highlights all with good justification 'because'.
Goals for the term included exam and school success, piano grades, Latin and German progress and Hockey team ambition.
Our Newsround (and we encourage the group to be as aware of news and the world around them as possible, e.g. First News, Newsround, The Week Junior) took in:
The US Presidential Election
Kamala Harris
Keir Starmer & the Margaret Thatcher portrait
The Olympics & Paralympics
Technological innovation
Our debates covered the motions:
(i) Should the Olympic Rings stay on the Eiffel Tower?; & Should the Mayor of Paris need to consult her constituents?
- the group voted unanimously for their removal and for wider consultation.
(ii) Are there too many exams? (following a BBC/OCR article/review)
- this was more split, but with a sizeable section of the group looking for more 'balance'; and finally
(iii) This House believes we still need coins? & Will the coinage help raise awareness for endangered UK wildlife?
- many felt the age of the coin was going, but for now was still needed and it would help raise some awareness.
An excellent start to the term - well done all!
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