Student Involvement & Academic News 

A GRADE DEBATER'S – SECOND PLACE IN THE STATE

Huge congratulations to the Year 12 A grade Debating team (Charlie, Poppy, Hugo, Natalia and Bonnie), who have been very successful this year. After finishing top of the Mt Eliza Region and the first round of finals, they then had three more rounds: defeating Suzanne Cory High School, Melbourne Grammar, and Penleigh and Essendon Grammar after that. Their undefeated streak led them to their way to the State Final at Caulfield Grammar in October. This is the first time that the school has made it this far, and we are incredibly proud of the A-grade debaters. 

In the State Finals, we valiantly battled it out against St Leonards, discussing the morality of being a billionaire, but were narrowly defeated 2-1 in a split decision from the adjudicators. This result means that our A-grade team is officially second in the whole state. The DAV competition is the largest debating competition in the Southern Hemisphere, meaning that this is a huge achievement! We wish the graduating Year 12s the best of luck with their future endeavors and congratulate them on their unprecedented success this year. 

          Junior Debating

In Terms 3 and 4 some of our Year 7s and 8s have been learning the basics of debating in the Junior Debating program. Coached by the Debating Captains, Jamila and Natalia, our Junior Debating team has learned how to structure a speech, prepare a topic, as well as rebut and respond to their opponents. This year, we had a training evening followed by three practice debates, and we won two out of three of them. For beginner debaters, this is a great achievement!