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Students from Jersey College for Girls (JCG) and Grainville will take to the stage to debate the issue of the island retaining its brightest young minds as part of the JCG Debate Series, which is sponsored by Hawksford through its JCG Foundation Corporate Partnership.
Students from Jersey College for Girls (JCG) and Grainville will take to the stage to debate the issue of the island retaining its brightest young minds as part of the JCG Debate Series, which is sponsored by Hawksford through its JCG Foundation Corporate Partnership.
The topic for the next debate on 6th November at JCG will be ‘This house believes it is better, for Jersey, for me to stay than go’. Moderated by BBC Radio Jersey Breakfast presenter Matthew Price, the debate will bring together teams made up of JCG and Grainville students to debate the positive and negative impacts of the migration of young talent away from Jersey, and the implications this may have for the island’s future.
The teams will be mixed to allow the opportunity for students to work together and so the JCG sixth-form students can support the younger students from Grainville.
Carl Howarth, Principal of JCG, commented: ‘We are excited to welcome students from Grainville to participate in the debate and we hope to extend this invite to other schools in the future. With the Hawksford JCG Debate Series now open to other island schools, we feel it will provide an excellent opportunity for students to develop their rhetorical skills and work together to consider important issues that many of them will face in the not too distant future.’
John McGuinness, Headteacher at Grainville School, said ‘Competitive debate is both a challenging and rewarding activity for students. It helps to focus the mind and encourages young people to practise their public-speaking skills whilst developing good analytical, research and listening skills. At Grainville we aim to inspire, motivate and challenge students and applaud JCG and Hawksford for establishing this innovative debating series.’
Chief executive of Hawksford Peter Murley has been impressed by the standard of argument at previous events. He added: ‘The topic chosen for this debate is very thought provoking and it is fitting that the future challenges facing Jersey will be discussed by tomorrow’s leaders. The Debate Series aims to create mentoring opportunities and students will benefit tremendously from the BBC’s Matthew Price who, as well as moderating the debate, will give a masterclass on constructing and presenting an argument.’
Matthew Price, BBC Radio Jersey Breakfast presenter, added: ‘It’s a great opportunity to hear what our young people have to say about their future in the island and how they see their own careers and hopes developing. At the BBC we’re always keen to prompt a debate on a range of issues that affect our daily lives and we’re looking forward to addressing some of the issues the students will raise. Highlights of the debate will be broadcast on BBC Radio Jersey’s Breakfast programme and we will put the points the students make to our island leaders.’
The Hawksford JCG Debate Series has been created in order to encourage public speaking, the voicing of opinions and to create a bridge between today’s leaders and those of tomorrow. The Debate Series focuses on the key theme, and Hawksford’s positioning statement, thinking beyond tomorrow with many of the planned debate topics relating to those covered in Hawksford’s thought paper of the same name.
The Hawksford sponsored Debate Series launched at a reception at the House of Commons in October 2012, which was organised to celebrate the launch of Hawksford’s thought paper publication. The publication brought together leading individuals from the realms of business, society, education and culture to look at the trends, issues and opportunities that might affect the world’s future.
The third debate in the series is set to take place on Wednesday 6th November at JCG and will be recorded and hosted by the BBC. Students from all nine island secondary schools have been invited to watch the debate and it is hoped that the next JCG debate, which will take place in 2014, will involve even more of the island’s schools.
