Broxburn Academy runs a very active and rewarding debate programme. This includes a debate club which runs weekly, competitive debate teams, and an elective debate class for S2s. Senior pupils also run outreach debate clubs in our cluster primaries.
Engaging in debate develops confidence, literacy and public speaking skills. Academic research has shown that being involved with debate boosts aspirations, improves academic achievement and develops critical thinking.
Our debate club runs every Monday at lunchtime in T7. (Mr McDonald's classroom) We discuss current affairs, play games to improve our skills, and take regular trips. Last year we took trips to the Scottish Parliament, the Houses of Parliament in London, and watched the Commonwealth Service in Westminster Abbey where we saw the Royal Family and Prime Minister. Our club were even invited to take part in the annual House of Lords Chamber Debate in December 2017, which was an incredible honour.
Competitive debate training runs on Wednesdays after-school in T7. (Mr McDonald's classroom) This is specific training to help prepare pupils for competitions. We enter a variety a competitions throughout the year and have had a lot of success in recent times. We were runners up in the St. Andrew's Day Debate Competition in the Scottish Parliament in 2016. We reached the Semi-Finals of the ESU Scottish Mace in 2017 and the Quarter-Finals in 2018. Broxburn teams have reached the Quarter-Finals of the Donald Dewar Debate competition in both 2017 and 2018. We won the West Lothian Schools debate competition in 2017. Our biggest success so far came with S1 pupils Emma and Ruby, who won the ESU Scottish Schools Juniors (S1-3) competition in 2018. It was an incredible achievement for them to win whilst still in S1. They defeated teams from St. Columba's School, the High School of Dundee and Stewart's Melville in the final. They were the youngest team and the only state school to make the final. They defeated 88 teams from across Scotland.
Any pupil is welcome to come along to debate club or our competitive training; we always encourage new members! Get involved.
