Yr 5/6 PUBLICSPEAKING    2023

Report of the Advanced Presentation Skills Debating “Grand Finale” on Wednesday 15th November 2023- by Sandra de Geest

Congratulations to all the grade five and six students who graduated from the Advanced Presentation Skills Debating Course this term.  This is the first time we ran debating at St Agnes’ and thanks to a dedicated teacher and the very clever students the program was enjoyable and beneficial.

A huge thank you to the parents and grandparents for attending and making up our audience.  Our Assistant Principal also attended to witness the outcomes of the debating classes. Your feedback after the debating class was positive and very much appreciated.

The students were voted by their peers as follows:

The Affirmative team consisted of Callan, Angelo and Bridget, and on the Negative team we had Ayman, Chloe and Hudson.  All debaters were very well prepared, demonstrated excellent team work and had interesting research and facts. Also very evident were the speakers' strong debating phrases, such as: “Facts to support my case”, “My team and I strongly believe” and “It is evident to us all that . . .”  Rebuttals were appropriate and many. Well done debaters. 

The delivery from all speakers was strong and persuasive.  All students were well prepared for their roles including Hugh Clark as Chairman, Rosie Russell as the Off the Cuff presenter, Allanah and Vallentina as timers and Naimh and Nate as adjudicators.  Our Thank You presenters were Eleanor and Sienna who had prepared beautifully for their speeches.

A very big thank you to Mrs Gorski who encouraged and supported the students' work and helped make the program a success.  Her students LOVE arguing and are more than happy to perform in front of the class.  One of the parents commented that they all did so with respect and dignity.

The team efforts of all of the students was much appreciated. I have enjoyed being entertained with many interesting topics and I hope all participants enjoyed the whole experience as much as I did.  You certainly did yourselves and your school proud.

Sandra de Geest

Advanced Presentation Skills