Theme: What matters to me

Public speaking and debating are at the heart of our approach at Eaton Square Prep. Our focus on spoken communication and critical thinking allows our children to be both confident and empathetic, but we also believe that the teaching of oracy will give them a big boost as they move to senior school, even with their careers in mind.

We offer a range of exciting opportunities. Our ever-popular Debating Club for Years 5 and 6 offers the chance to learn parliamentary debating. Club members compete in inter-school competitions, such as The Sir Winston Churchill Public Speaking Competition at Blenheim Palace. Other annual venues include Epsom College and The Oratory. In the Summer Term, Debating Club also visits UK Parliament for a guided tour and workshop on laws.

Our Debating Club is led by two elected Debating Captains from Year 6. They help run weekly meetings and prepare for competitions. This leadership role provides even further opportunity for personal development. One of the 2022 Debating Captains, Sasha Maxwell, speaks at this TEDx event. We celebrate achievement in this area by awarding The Lemardeley Cup at Prize Giving to one child for their consistently excellent contributions to public speaking and debating. The winner for 2022, Nikolai Petrov, speaks at this TEDx event.

At Eaton Square Prep, we offer our children a global platform through our annual TEDx programme. This initiative is currently led by Mr Kitchen with the support of Mr Hepher. As a school, we are delighted to have our own TEDx license. After a challenging selection process, we select children in Years 5 and 6 to take to the stage and speak to the whole school at St Michael's Church. Each child's talk is filmed, edited, submitted to TEDx and then shown to the world on YouTube.

Our most recent addition is the Dukes Debating Festival, an annual get-together of prep schools in the Dukes Education family. Organised by us and held at Eaton Square Senior, the inaugral inter-school competition in October 2021 was in fact won by our team.

St Michael's Church
Chester Square
London, Westminster, SW1W 9EF
United Kingdom

German Latypov

Year 6 Pupil, Eaton Square Prep (Miss Chakravarty) 💪🏥

Difficulties: If I went through all that at the age of nine, I think you can definitely go through your difficulty. We all have them, but we all have the strength to overcome them. Be tough, but also accept help from the people who care. Some difficulties come at the most inconvenient times. Try to see them as a way to grow and become a better person. It will be tough, but I believe you can do it. Have a think. Be honest. What is my difficulty? Who could help me make it better? These are quite tough questions to ask, but I promise you that it will be worth it. Thank you for listening.

Liza Tarasova

Year 5 Pupil, Eaton Square Prep (Miss Moylan) 💙💛

A child's Ukraine: Ukraine is the country I love. The colours of our flag best represent how I feel. The blue skies of hope lie above the yellow fields full of crops. I want to see those skies again. I want to play in those fields again. I want to see the blue and yellow again. Our country will be the story of survival. Stand with Ukraine! Слава Україні!

Nicolas Gil-Alberdi

Year 5 Pupil, Eaton Square Prep (Mrs Williamson) 🌊🦸

Aquaman will save us: Aquaman said that ‘life, like the sea, has a way of bringing people together’. Let’s work with water. Atlantis was consumed by greed, but we will not let this happen. Growth in solar and wind energy is expanding, but what about wave power? How can we also use the tides of the River Thames to make power? The oceans are the world’s largest untapped source of renewable energy. By 2050, ocean energy can provide 10% of Europe’s electricity. Let’s also focus on rivers and lakes. In 2020, hydropower already supplied 17% of global electricity. Aquaman would be proud, but we can all be Aqua heroes. Water is our friend, okay? Thank you for listening.

Nikolai Petrov

Year 6 Pupil, Eaton Square Prep (Mr Kitchen) 🧠🛹

I have ADHD: Overall, while having ADHD isn’t always fun, with treatment and our joint efforts, it is possible to show off its positive features and control its negatives. I am very grateful to my prep school, but especially to Mr Kitchen for making this possible. Mr Kitchen’s patience, trust and care has made a really big difference this year. For some reason, he gets me and I will leave prep school with more optimism and knowledge about myself. My name is Nikolai Petrov and I have ADHD. Thank you.

Sasha Maxwell

Year 6 Pupil, Eaton Square Prep (Miss Watt) 🐔🐤

Small body, big personality: Overall, I have told you the many ways chickens are interesting and amazing such as their personalities, hierarchy and communication and I hope this talk hasn’t scared you into not eating meat or eggs. If it has, my advice is to eat them but just eat better quality. Eggs are really important too for a good protein-filled diet but make sure that your egg has the number 1 or 0 on the shell meaning it is a healthy free-range egg. I hope you now understand that chickens are one of the most interesting animals on our great planet and that we can all learn to love and appreciate them. Why did the chicken cross the road? To end my talk. Thank you.