21/5/ 2024

Cathays High School has been crowned the champion of the Debate Mate Cup for 2024, after beating the defending champions of the last two years, Willows High School.

Students from Cantonian High, Eastern High, Fitzalan High, Ysgol Glantaf, Cardiff West Community High, Willows High, St Teilo's CiW High School and Cathays High schools took part in the 12-week schools debating programme delivered by Debate Mate across the 8 schools in the city.

The 12-week programme culminated with the final, sponsored by Principality Building Society at the Principality Stadium. The day of head-to-head debates involved volunteers from Principality Building Society supporting Debate Mate mentors with Chairing and Judging the debates.

Pupils debated issues on carbon tax to tackle climate change and whether children should be provided with IT devices from schools. Pupils from Cathays High School and Willows High School made it to the final debate of the day, debating the topic ‘This house would pause developments of AI'.

The final took place in front of all other competing schools, as well as private sector partners Principality Building Society and Legal & General who were hugely impressed by the debating skills of all pupils and were thrilled to witness Cathays High School securing the Debate Mate Cup for Cardiff/Wales!

Cardiff Council Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Education, Cllr Sarah Merry said: "Debate Mate 2024 has been a fantastic event and all of the contributions I've heard were outstanding. It's been wonderful to see so many young people involved in the initiative and I'm sure everyone has found it a worthwhile and enriching experience."

"Well done to Cathays for winning the Cup! I would like to thank our partners Debate Mate and Legal & General,and our sponsors Principality Building Society andCardiff Commitment for delivering this exceptional programme."

Cathays High Headteacher, Stuart Davies, said:"Weare so proud of the debating team that have worked hard for this achievement. The pupils have gained valuable skills and demonstrated how their confidence and debating abilities have grown by taking part in this programme."

The Cardiff Schools Debate Mate Programme was delivered byDebate Mate, a charity whose aim is to tackle social mobility by delivering after-school debate clubs in schools in areas of high deprivation, using a highly effective peer-to-peer mentoring model. The Debate Mate Schools programme supports the development of key transferable skills and improves a range of higher order thinking skills such as confidence, teamwork and leadership in pupils from year 7-10.

The initiative has been sponsored byCardiff Commitmentand received funding from the UK Government through the UK Shared Prosperity Fund. Cardiff Commitment partnersLegal & Generaland Admiral hosted 2 of the debating competitions, Urban Debate Leagues, in their offices at the start of May.