On Monday 23 March, fifteen Lower VI students made our way to Leighton Park School to participate in the Thames Valley round of the European Youth Parliament Debating Competition (EYP).

EYP is a competition which allows students to explore global issues while developing debating and critical thinking skills through simulating real European parliamentary debate alongside other young people. The challenge involves working as a team to either support or oppose an assigned motion focused on the EU, delivering a three minute opening speech on their viewpoint and participating in open debate sessions.

In the morning, we had the opportunity to listen to a speech from Yuan Yang, who is an MP representing Earley and Woodley, which offered a valuable perspective on her personal debating experience as well as the importance of ensuring that young people’s voices are heard.

My team was chosen to oppose a motion focused on the adoption of AI within the EU and I gave the opening speech for our team.

There were around 60 people in the audience, including teams from various schools; yet, everyone was incredibly supportive and respectful of one another, creating a welcoming environment that allowed people to feel comfortable participating.

Following the opening speeches for our debate, there was the open debate session where team members delivered vital contributions to support our argument and respond to various points brought up by other committees. One of my teammates, Annabel, delivered our final summary speech, which involved summarising our view and incorporating responses to points which opposed ours. At the end of our debate, we participated in the voting round and the motion did not pass as the majority had voted against!

Throughout the day, we had the opportunity to listen to other teams and their compelling speeches, after which we engaged in open debate sessions on other topics such as culture, education and tourism.

The panel of judges were very supportive and ensured that everyone felt heard. Overall, I would say that EYP was a very enjoyable experience due to the positive atmosphere and because it taught us not only public speaking and debating skills but also teamwork skills, which will benefit us in the future. Personally, I found that the experience significantly improved my confidence in public speaking as well as my ability to respond effectively to challenging arguments.

Aiza, Lower VI