Our debating program continues this term, with students completing competition and in-house debating across both the senior and junior levels. The enthusiasm, preparation and confidence displayed by all students has been very impressive.

Senior debaters have now competed in three rounds of debates organised by the Debaters Association of Victoria, arguing both prepared and secret topics. Students have demonstrated strong critical thinking skills, teamwork, and the ability to respond with impressive arguments and rebuttals under pressure. The prepared debates showcased fantastic research undertaken by teams, while secret topics highlighted students quick thinking and confidence in constructing arguments on the spot.

Our senior debaters have debated topics such as:

• That it should be free to camp in all national parks in Australia.
• That it should be compulsory for all young people to complete 50 hours of community service each year.
• That we should ban petrol cars from being used for business purposes (e.g. taxi, food delivery) from 2030.
• That professional competitive events (e.g. AFL, chess) should not allow draws.

Initial in-house debates have begun for our junior debaters in Years 7 and 8. For our Year 7 students, this has been their first experience in a debating setting, and they should be congratulated for stepping outside their comfort zones and giving it their best. Our junior students are developing confidence, persuasive speaking skills, and willingness to work collaboratively as a team. It’s been wonderful to see our students encouraging one another and embracing the challenges of speech writing and delivery. Thanks to our Year 8 students who have been supporting our Year 7 students with adjudicating, timekeeping and helping them with debate preparation.