Written by Ben Cowham, Year 10 work experience
The debate team at Malet Lambert has just begun to compete with other schools.
Team manager and RE teacher, Mrs Hambleton, had been holding debate classes at dinner time for 3 years, and her team has now just had a debate with Hymers College at their school.
This competition was informal, as debate season has finished, so this was a “friendly” in football terms.
The debate club’s main aim is to expand on the students’ abilities, e.g. help the students with their speech, which can help them in and outside of school.
It has been highlighted that the debate team has no budget, and if they want to compete at a national level, they will need to do fundraising.
In order to debate at a higher level, the team have to practice by building their skills before they argue, for example, they would need to do “mock” debates at the club so the students can then gain confidence and use the tactics they have learnt to then go on and win the argument. The debate club runs every Wednesday, and everyone can join.
The winner of the event is chosen by the judge, who then has to base their judgement on the argument. As this was an informal debate, the participants didn’t win any prizes this time, but gained valuable experience. The age range for these events is between Year 7 and Year 13.
The main tips to become a successful debater:
The debate team manager believes that they will definitely be able to win; the students just need to remember to have confidence in themselves.