Why set up a debating society?

A debating society is a great way to focus interest in debating in a school and is beneficial for a number of reasons. Debating societies: promote communication and advocacy skills encourage critical and creative thinking abilities benefit the wider school culture enhance the reputation of the school both locally and nationally engage with the local community.

How to encourage student involvement After the first few meetings of the society, and depending on how many people want to get involved in the new society, there are various ways in which students can get involved. This can be through a formal election process. Elected roles could include: Role President Secretary Description Takes overall charge and chairs meetings of the society. The president can also represent the society to the School Council and the Senior Management Team. Can take the minutes of the society meetings and keep a special minutes book of all the debates themselves. The secretary can note down who has spoken and how many times throughout the year (ensuring that everyone has a fair turn). Could be responsible for keeping attendance, recruiting new members and publicity for the debating society. Deals with local schools (for local tournaments, one-off competitive debates, etc). Can invite guest speakers if the society decides to host gala or show debates. Involved with training and mentoring junior speakers.

Membership Officer Liaison Officer Guest Speaker Officer Junior Speaker Officer

Organisation techniques There is no right or wrong way to run a debating society. Some schools split their debating society in two - for example, juniors (S1-S3) could meet on a Wednesday lunchtime, seniors (S4 and above) could meet on a Thursday lunchtime. Other schools have a debating society that isnt split on age levels and all the speakers compete against each other throughout the year (whilst also occasionally having a juniors event or a seniors event). However, if a debating society is very big and pupils are not getting a chance to speak very often, it might make sense to split the society into juniors and seniors.

Assembly debates One way to attract attention to the debating society and publicise it to the wider school community is to host a short example debate in assembly. Even if this is unfeasible due to time constraints, mentioning the debating society in assembly is a good way to publicise the society.

Gala debates Some schools organise a gala debate at some point during the year. This can be either an afternoon event or an evening debate where guest speakers (journalists, councillors, MSPs, MPs, advocates or local celebrities) are invited to debate at the school. These can either be guest speaker only debates or they can pair the guest speakers with members of the debating society. If these debates take place in the evening, they can attract audiences of members of the public, parents and pupils - a little like a drama production or musical production would. Gala or guest speaker debates are a great way to interact with the local community and to show off the debating society.