Model United Nations (known as MUN) provides students with an exciting opportunity to learn about the challenges facing the world today. Participants (usually sixth formers) organise themselves into delegations, before being assigned a country to represent at the conference. They must then seek to reflect accurately the view of that country in a series of debates on international issues, ranging from climate change to the situation in the Middle East. The students who take part not only become more aware about the issues confronting the wider world, but they also develop important skills, such as how to communicate effectively to a large audience, how to think on their feet when confronted with the unexpected, and how to work collaboratively with others.

In addition to participating in the conference as delegates, Kingswood students also take the lead in organising the event. During the conference weekend they chair the many specialist committees, leading groups of a hundred students or more as they debate the issues on the agenda. MUN gives them the opportunity to learn a great deal about themselves as they seek to master the organisational challenges that inevitably accompany such a major event in the school’s calendar.

To give a sense of the range of issues debated at the Kingswood conference, please click here to download the 2012 agenda.  For further information, please contact the conference director, Mr Craig Woodgate, mun@kingswood.bath.sch.uk