Most of our societies are run by the pupils themselves, led by those in the Upper School, and involve a mixture of external speakers and internal pupil-led discussions and presentations. The School also runs a Lower School Societies Week every year, to encourage pupils in years 9 to 11 to speak about a subject of particular interest to them. Recent speakers at societies have included: Dr Shikta Das, Director at AstraZeneca and Honorary Lecturer at UCL; Dr Jonathan Rohrer, Professor of Neurology at UCL and Honorary Consultant Neurologist; and Dr Jack Symes, public philosopher and lecturer at Durham University and producer of The Panpsycast Philosophy. Past pupil-led talks have focused on areas such as game theory, the neurobiology behind procrastination and stress, Charles V’s abdication, and the economics of religion.

The nature of Westminster’s approach to learning means that a debate-style challenging of ideas and development of arguments is common to most of the Societies; however, there are also several specific debating societies, teams and programmes. As well as internal opportunities such as House Debating, Westminster pupils can get involved in external inter-school competitions both nationally and internationally. In recent years we have experienced enormous success in competitions such as the final of National French Debating Competition at the Institut Français, the UCL Schools Tournament and the Grand Finals of the SOAS Schools Tournament and Debate Mate Cup. Pupils on the School’s Model United Nations team, which runs the School’s MUN Society, have gone on to win awards at events such as the NHSMUN in New York.

The John Locke Lecture Series takes place frequently during the School’s Play (Autumn) and Lent (Spring) terms, for Sixth Form pupils. Eminent speakers from the worlds of business, politics, culture and academia address pupils and engage in lively debate and Q&A on a broad spectrum of topics and viewpoints. John Locke speakers have included Jim Carter, Sir Richard Dearlove, Lucy D’Orsi, Jonathan Freedland, The Rt Hon. Dominic Grieve QC MP, Baroness Lawrence of Clarendon, Robbie Lyle, Antonia Romeo, Sir Anthony Seldon and Sir Simon Schama. Similarly, the School’s Horizons Lecture Series runs throughout the year, outside of the timetable and for the whole school to attend; a recent Horizon’s Lecture gave a Remove pupil with an interest in theatre tech the opportunity to interview renowned theatre director and former Westminster pupil, Michael Attenborough, in front of an audience in the School’s chapel.

The School aims to empower pupils to develop and share their own passions; so if a Society does not exist that is of interest to a group of pupils then they are encouraged and supported to set it up.