On Wednesday 26th June, a group of Year 5 and 6 pupils from St. Joseph’s Catholic Primary School visited Middlesbrough’s Riverside Stadium to take part in a debate competition.
They debated a range of topics including, ‘This house believes we should fear the rise of robots’, with other schools from the Bishop Hogarth Catholic Education Trust. They took on various roles such as the opposition and proposition and were given the opportunity to answer questions from the floor. Throughout the debates, they responded to points of information (POI).
The children were guided by members of Debate Mate (a company which runs extra-curricular debate workshops in schools). Towards the end of the day, the children had the opportunity to observe a live debate.
One child commented, “I really enjoyed the day and asking the opposition questions. It was sometimes challenging to think of responses straight away. I was able to ask a question in the live debate.” Liam Hunt, Deputy Headteacher, stated, “The children really enjoyed the opportunities to develop their confidence in public speaking and develop their communication skills.”