Junior Debate Competition 2018

Junior Debate Competition 2018 Children in Year 6 have been honing their debating skills this term, aiming to claim a spot in the Junior Debate Competition final, taking place on 9th May.

Children in Year 6 have been honing their debating skills this term, aiming to claim a spot in the Junior Debate Competition final taking place on 9th May 2018.

In teams of 4, the children have been given specific motions such as ‘Children under 18 should not have a mobile phone’ or ‘Aliens Exist’. After being split into ‘For’ and ‘Against’ camps (in regards to the specific given motion), the children were then set a range of difficult tasks that required teamwork, forward-thinking, linguistic skills and maturity.

As a team, they would research the given subject matter thoroughly, gaining facts, figures and quotes that help to back up their arguments whilst keeping in mind whether the source of that information was reputable and reliable. They structured their arguments, ordered main points and provided evidence for those points succinctly before deciding which member of the team would say which part. Finally, they practised verbalising these arguments, maintaining eye-contact, gesturing for effect, using the correct tone, speaking with clarity and retaining poise whilst being as persuasive with their language as possible.

The speed in which the children have picked up these key skills has been fantastic. Their enthusiasm throughout the unit has been commendable too, not only through the fantastic learning that’s taken place improving these new skills but in regards to the subject matter and motions they’ve been using to debate. Hopefully they’ve been inspired from the experiences!

Well done Year 6!

Mr Matt Payne, Year 6 Teacher