This topic was deemed an essential debate for this year’s conference, as a result of the global proliferation of fake news and the challenges facing news and social media sites as they increasingly seek methodologies to validate information.

TEAMGlobal is an Education Charity that Gumley has been working with since 2013, in creating forums addressing current global issues; that enable students to make more informed decisions.

We were supported by Journalists and a Charitable Trust, all established in their fields, who offered their expertise and insight into ‘how to better identify fact from fiction & our roles in this too’.

A very special thank you to all of our speakers who captivated throughout our audience of 230 students.

• Fergal Keane, BBC News
• Enda Brady, SKY News
• Owen Jones, Hope Not Hate Charitable Trust
• Chris Wheal, Freelance Journalist and Editor of Capital.com

Their topics ranged from: ‘The obligations of reason’, ‘How power alters our perceptions’ to ‘Fake news: you get what you deserve’.

Our gratitude also to our 2 moderators Laurence Smy, Chairman of TEAMGlobal & Jane Gonzalez, who smoothly facilitated the debates between the students and speakers.

Thank you as always, to the immense contribution from TeamGlobal’s Executive Members: John Wilson, Kevin McSharry & Antony Frost and The Economist for once again generously providing copies of their publication for the students.

We were delighted to welcome students & staff from the following schools:

Brentford School for Girls, Isleworth & Syon School for Boys and 2 of our FCJ schools; Maria Fidelis and all the way from the Wirral; Upton Hall School.

Students give their views:

• “I enjoyed learning how our generation has a significant impact on what information we pass on”
•  “It was really impressive that such notable speakers were able to share their knowledge with us”
• “I will look more closely at sources and provenance in the future”
• “I have more awareness now of the impact I can make towards fake news”
• “Our group discussions were very interesting and we all had a chance to put our points across”
• “It was informative and relevant”
• “I will take more time to validate the news I read before sharing it”
• “I heard different perspectives on fake news which was interesting”
• “I enjoyed the question and answer sessions with the speakers”
• “I learnt a lot about fake news and how to combat it”
• “It was a great experience to be able to hear a range of views, some different to mine”
• “It was very informative on how fake news can affect the society we live in”
• “I have taken out a lot from this conference”