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Local Students Debate their way to Westminster

 Local Students Debate their way to Westminster

Four students from the WMG Academy for Young Engineers, based in Coventry, enjoyed a trip to Westminster yesterday (Weds 26th November) to watch Prime Minister’s Questions in the House of Commons.

Miranda Bishop-Timings, Ethan Harries, Hannah Miles and Sophie Sutton won the Y12 Debating Competition run by Coventry City Council as part of Local Democracy week.

This win marks a flying start for the WMG Academy, which only opened its doors to students in September. Academy Principal, Mrs Kate Tague said: “We are incredibly proud of our winning team, they took part in the competition after just over a month with us and they have set the bar high for their fellow students!

“Not only have they done thorough research in order to present their argument, they have learnt debating skills and worked together as a team, collaborating, sharing expertise and knowledge and supporting each other. We prize these skills, which are very much part of our business-like, business-led ethos at the WMG Academy.”

Professor Lord Bhattacharyya, Chairman of WMG said: “It’s wonderful to see the young students from the WMG Academy for Young Engineers making an impact through debating. I organised a tour of the House of Lords as part of their visit to London and I hope this will have filled them with enthusiasm for their next competition.”

The debating competition took place on Friday 17th October where the team had to debate the following motion:

  • “This House would introduce an age limit of 18 for mobile phones”

 

Hannah was Proposer, Miranda Responder, Ethan Summator and Sophie Chairperson/Timekeeper.

Having won their round they went through to a final round where they debated the motion:

· “This House Believes that the internet encourages democracy”.

Miranda said: “It was a great experience to see how debating evolved from our local debate to Prime Minister's Question. It was fascinating to see the Houses of Parliament from both an engineering and political point of view. We very much appreciate the opportunity.”

 Notes to Editors

You can watch a video of the debates here: http://www.coventry.public-i.tv/core/portal/webcast_interactive/150043

For more information, or to arrange an interview, please contact Alison Rowan, Communications Manager, a.rowan@warwick.ac.uk or by telephone on 024 7615 0423 or 07876 218166.