Tuesday was Year 9 MUN day.  Some of Year 9 had taken part in MUN as part of co-curricular and had attended some conferences, however many had not been involved in Model United Nations before.

The day started with some research into the countries to which they had each been allocated.  Our Year 12 MUNers together with two experienced Year 9s, guided the year group on what to research and consider, particularly when the debating topics were revealed.  Both committees looked at the issues of global violence and the inequality of healthcare provision across the world.  Again, the students researched these topics from the viewpoints of their countries; this proved an interesting and at times controversial task as the views of certain countries did not align with the views of the students.

Resolutions were then given to the students or “delegates” who then analysed these documents and suggested amendments and additions to clauses.  The delegates had to gather support from other delegates and then speak in favour of their suggestions.  These were debated and then voted on once both sides had had their say.

We finished the day with a General Assembly where all delegates came to the Queen’s Hall to debate a “crisis” scenario. Again, amendments and additions to the draft resolution were suggested and debated; voting was held on each proposal.

Model United Nations is an activity where many transferable skills are fostered; those of cooperation, collaboration, research, analysis as well as public speaking.  It is also an activity which is broadly organised and run by students themselves; all of the resources used were devised and drafted by the student Chairs who then in turn ran the debates themselves.  

The students, both those who organised and those who took part, were a credit to themselves.  We very much hope that this event will have sparked interest in some who would want to participate going forward into next year.