Following the success of last year, we were delighted to run a further debating and public speaking summer school programme as part of the ASL Summer School. Over a two week period we had time to focus on key skills from persuasive language to body language and the art of the rhetorical question; as well as intensive workshops with teamwork and detailed analysis to the fore. Each group had the opportunity to spend time with experts from the legal world, creative industries and finance and to...

We started our final session of the year by discussing whether being famous is more valued than being skilled before moving onto whether safety is more important than freedom. The group then chose to debate the motion, 'This house believes that evaluating students' learning through exams is better than coursework.' It was hugely impressive to see each student think so widely around a topic, considering issues such as mental health, accuracy, their own (often global) experiences, what works...

We have had an excellent start to our summer term of debating at Falkner House. On skills we have looked at body language, POIs, Active Listening, structure and pre-empting/anticipating opposition arguments along with rebuttal, and objectivity. Our newsrounds have reflected on the London Marathon, the War in Ukraine, conflict in the Middle East, the King's state visit to the USA, Sir David Attenborough at 100, and the local elections and devolved parliamentary elections. Warm-up questions...