PAST and present Oxford politicians joined the speakers of the future as a group of primary and secondary school pupils took part in a debating competition.

Oxford East MPs Anneliese Dodds and her predecessor Andrew Smith were at Cheney School in Headington on Friday to oversee the school's primary debating competition.

The event saw primary school pupils from Bayards Hill Primary, Windmill Primary, and St Joseph's Primary schools practice their debating skills with the topic of 'should the school uniform be abolished?'

They were mentored by a group of secondary school pupils from host school Cheney ahead of the two-hour afternoon session.

Dr Lorna Robinson, director at The Iris Project & Classics Centre at Cheney School, said: "It went really, really well, the primary school pupils did really well.

"It was a really successful event and the primary pupils really enjoyed themselves.

"They made thoughtful speeches on the topic and the secondary school students supported them.

"The primary school pupils came away having learned about the importance of debating and thinking differently about the issues."

The debating afternoon formed part of a long-running project which saw Year 9 Cheney School students work with local primary schools to give them an insight into how debating works.

Before the competition event the debating project, led by the school, involved a workshop introducing the ancient Greek roots of democracy and debate, which was followed by training workshops preparing groups of students for the tournament over the past few months.

The two MPs also lent a hand to show the importance of debating and gave brief talks with the debating teams, as well as providing talks on debating at the start and finish of the Friday sparring.

Dr Robinson added: "Anneliese Dodds and Andrew Smith gave speeches and mentioned how debating enables you to think about different issues.

"That is something that they found very useful as MPs.

"It was great having a retired and a current MP to give up their time for the debate.

"The pupils really appreciated it."

There were also prizes handed out, with schools named the winners of the three debating tables.

Two prizes were won by St Joseph's for their debating skills and a third by Bayards Hill.

The best speaker on the day was named was a pupil from Bayards Hill, and the the most promising speaker was won by a pupil from Windmill Primary School.

Debating at the Cheney School is led by teacher David Gimson and the school regularly takes part in debating competitions between other schools, including private schools across the county.