Debating

Year 7 and 8 DAV Debating

Over the past semester, a group of 43 Year 7 and 8 students participated in the Debaters Association of Victoria’s Junior Secondary Program. While the competition was intended to be a return to face-to-face debating for the first time in many months, the competition once again had to shift online at the last minute. Fortunately we were again able to run all of the planned rounds within an online space, with classrooms swapped for Zoom meetings and Teams calls. Debaters continued participating right up until the very end of term, with the final round only concluding in the second-last week of the teaching year. 

Our students debated a wide range of topics, from making Auslan a compulsory part of schooling, to the benefits of team sports, and whether children should be banned form online games. Working in their teams, they had to research topics, organise speakers and prepare speeches for each round. 

This was a ‘friendly’ competition, focused primarily on skill development and without any finals to follow the competition. However, our Huntingtower debaters gave it their all and achieved some impressive outcomes, with our teams winning seven out of eight debates in each of the final two rounds of the competition, and five teams managing to finish the competition undefeated. 

Well done to all the undefeated teams: 

• Huntingtower Team 3: Ria M, Julia P, Charlotte C, Jill X, Kheenav C
• Huntingtower Team 4: Yash B, Vishal S, Morris C, Michael L, Shiven D, Raghav P
• Huntingtower Team 5: Grace T, Helena S, Elle D, Alexis F, Aneka S, Celine A
• Huntingtower Team 6: Isabel P, Reva M, Saranya S, Jade C
• Huntingtower Team 7: Emily D, Simra I, Aneeha S, Isabella W, Ruby R, Olivia P

Congratulations as well go to all of the students who were involved in the Junior Secondary Program. It was great to see that despite all the difficulties this year posed, debating opportunities could continue to run in full for all of our students and they took full advantage of everything on offer. Everyone involved demonstrated excellent commitment to their teams and performed extremely well, with every single team winning at least one debate. Congratulations to all our JSP debaters, and good luck with your future debating endeavours! 

Student Reflections

This year, my team and I experienced some wonderful opportunities in debating by learning some of the key information and formalities that take place during a debate and how to interact and communicate with others, online and in person. As a team, we were encouraging and helped out with one another in practice and in debates. There were some technical challenges through the term, but the members in my team never hesitated to help out. Overall, debating this year was very fun, and despite the debates taking place online, the support of one another was motivating.

Helena S (Year 7)

Debating online was really enjoyable. We presented our speeches through a screen, with cameras on, and it felt as though we were actually in front of an audience. I especially liked conversing with the other teams while we waited for the adjudicator to come to a decision. I learnt to be flexible, and expect the unexpected.

Isabel P (Year 7)

Participating for the first time in debating, I was nervous about the competition. However, I soon learnt how fun it was to debate with my team. Celebrating victories together with friends made the wins sweeter, and I enjoyed every moment of it.

Julia P (Year 8)

Matthew McDonald 

Head of English