As part of improving the personal development of our students within the Trust, all Trust schools have gone head to head with one another with some healthy debate! Both our staff and students have been involved with the initial rounds.
Miss McDowall judged the match between Bruntcliffe Academy and The Morley Academy. The topics were ‘The Plastic Pandemic’ and ‘Should we give to charity?’ Both groups of students were extremely keen and eager: showing a real flair for debate. All topics had been clearly researched and she even found that students displayed passion for the topics they were debating. This made the matches very exciting to judge and gave her an insight into what TFA’s own debate team may be doing.
In addition to this, Miss Johnston judged the match between The Morely Academy and The Ruth Gorse Academy. The topics that the students debated were ‘Cancel Culture’ and ‘Female Athletes’. Both teams gave excellent presentations and articulated their points really well. It was clear that the students were incredibly engaged and passionate about the topics they were debating, and she notes that it was lovely to see how understanding and respectful they were of other viewpoints. Miss Johnston notes that she loved being able to judge such a high-quality debate where students could practice and implement key communication and evaluative skills; she came away from the debate with a wealth of new knowledge on both topics and absolutely loved the experience!
Judging the matches including a rigorous score sheet that judged the teams on their presentation skills, commentaries, and debate tactics. The debate cup continues after half-term where students continue to battle their way to the top! Watch this space to see how TFA get on.
