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Harris Girls’ Academy East Dulwich is hosting a series of debates in a cafe environment to build confidence and promote research and debating skills.

Known as ‘Debate Cake’, the new initiative was launched with a debate about how gender stereotypes affect the portrayal of women in children’s books. Children’s author Tamara MacFarlane led the discussion and used the debate to gain insight into how her characters come across to girls.

Debate Cake draws on the popularity of cafe culture, merging everyday life with critical thinking to challenge the world around us. The debates show students that exciting ideas often happen in more informal settings, not just in the classroom or university.

Self-esteem

Our next Debate Cake will be with artist Heather Agyepong, who is currently displaying her work at the academy’s ID Gallery. Heather will draw on her experience of growing up in Britain as a young black person to lead a discussion about self-esteem, race and belonging.

Debate Cake is part of the new Centre for Creative Explorations, which aims to support and promote creative researching practices.

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"Debate Cake was brilliant at opening up conversations with students in a relaxed environment, allowing them the opportunity to give honest opinions rather than feeling pressure to give 'right' answers.”  Tamara MacFarlane,author

“Debate Cake was so fun! I usually get stomach aches at debates because I am nervous, but I didn't get one." Student