Following our visit to Edinburgh Zoo, Scafell Class set out to find out what happens behind the scenes in our zoos. They researched online, looked at reports by animal welfare organisations and asked their friends and family about their opinions on zoos. Then the news was released about animal cruelty at a local Cumbrian zoo. Scafell decided to debate whether they thought all British zoos should close. Oliver and George took it in turns to be Mr Speaker and we started our debate with speeches from both sides of the house. The debate was passionate and forceful! To close we conducted a secret ballot with votes in favour of phasing out zoos in the UK by a majority of 18 to 7. Well done everyone in Scafell – your speaking and listening skills were outstanding!
Since then, we have used all our experiences and research to write a persuasive speech on zoos. Clearly the children felt very passionate about this subject as their writing is very powerful.