In December 2016, the Partnership Development Office at the University of Kent was approached by a student from Brompton Academy with a request to help create a debating society for their year group. The student was inspired by a debating workshop that they have been a participant of during the University of Kent Year 10 Residential Summer School in July 2016.
We wanted the sessions to be student-led, with members of the club suggesting what topics they want to debate and how they want their debating club to run. The club now has a steady number of Year 11 students stay after school every other week to learn about British Parliamentary Debating and have a debate of their choice. The topics are wide-ranging, from Trump’s presidency to the relevance of the feminist movement in the 21st century.
Students have since asked us to help them with their confidence, public speaking skills, and vocabulary, and our staff and student ambassadors have led workshops to support this. Students will soon be learning the rules of formal debating and hope to take part in a competition.
To find out more about our debating curriculum, please email outreach@kent.ac.uk.