Debating

Our Debating Workshop aims to increase primary school pupils’ confidence about offering their opinions and encourage them to consider the views of others.

Run on a Friday afternoon by our pupils at the primary school, the one-hour workshop introduces the concept of formal debating to the schoolchildren. Working in small groups, the children are given practice in public speaking skills and challenging others’ points of view, and are encouraged to back up their arguments with factual evidence. The workshop is suitable for groups of 20 to 30 Year 5 or 6 pupils.

New for 2021-22, we are hoping to run a city-wide debating competition in the spring term. If you would like to take part, you will be sent an information pack, providing lesson plans and resources on debating, which will explain how to run the initial rounds of the competition in school. You can encourage as many teams of two to take part as you wish and simply run in-house competitions to select your winning pair to go through to the heats. We can also also come in and run an introductory session for your pupils on a Friday afternoon in the autumn term if you feel this would be helpful.

The next stage of the competition will be held at King Edward’s School on Friday afternoons in the spring term, with teams of pupils from schools throughout Birmingham competing in heats. The winning teams from these heats will then compete against each other until four teams remain.