Debating

In 2025 Nossal High School entered fifteen enthusiastic teams to the annual Debating Association of Victoria (DAV) competition. With a record four hundred and sixty-five schools, and approximately one thousand and five hundred teams in each level this year’s competition were as competitive as ever, with every school and individual team working hard to progress further into the competition.

Pleasingly, 2025 was yet another exceptional year for debating at Nossal High School, with two teams being declared winners of the Berwick Region and one of the Year nine teams making it all the way to the state semi-final.

In A grade, despite not making it through to the finals, the Year 12 debaters finished both second and third in the region. This was the same outcome in B grade, and excitedly they will get another opportunity to progress in 2026. 

In C grade, Nossal finished first, second, third and fourth with one of the teams progressing to the octo-finals. Most notably, the Year 9 teams all finished in the top four of the region with one team impressively making it all the way to the state semi-final. Despite losing this debate, finishing third in the state out of 1500 teams was an absolute stellar achievement.

Individually, Dana Li in Year 9 was awarded the Swannie as a testament to her consistently high scoring debates across the season.

Whilst it is so pleasing to see the debating culture at Nossal High School continue to grow it is no coincidence that our always passionate captains and mentors who offered support, guidance and calm for our newer members were always available and willing to help foster this culture of confidence and success. 

A special thank you is therefore extended to Nossal’s 2025 Debating Captains Lincoln Ge and Pahal Dandiya whom expertly mentored many of the Year 9 and 10 teams whilst also cogently and zealously debating for their A grade team.

Nossal High School looks forward to another outstanding season in 2026 and welcomes all students (experienced or new) to join the fun and collaboration by participating in the most electrifying indoor sport – Debating!