PUBLIC SPEAKING & DEBATING

Public Speaking Festival

Our annual Public Speaking Festival recently took place over three massive days. Over fifty students competed and every year level was represented. Our Year Sevens were particularly keen participants and this is a great sign for the future of the competition.

For students, staff and parents who are new to Oberon, the competition was originally developed by Mrs Barbara Staff who tragically passed away in 2016. Mrs Staff was the driving force behind developing the public speaking culture at Oberon which has continued over three decades.

The topics presented in this year’s competition ranged from humorous speeches about the education system and the generation gap to more serious topics such as animal cruelty and the dark web. Public speaking can be a huge challenge and all students should be commended for stepping up to be a part of the competition.

Our adjudicators had the very difficult task of selecting the final winners of the Festival which will be presented at an upcoming assembly. Thank you to Ms Jo Anglin for organising this year’s festival.

Debating Grand Slam

Last term saw the first ever Debating Grand Slam at Oberon High School. After participating in a training and speech writing workshop, over 40 students from across Years 7 to 10 debated such topics as ‘We should sell Tasmania’, ‘Lying is an important life skill’ and ‘Zoos should be banned’. There were some amazing speeches across the day and there was an excellent standard of rebuttal in all debates. Winning students were presented with the holy grail of school prizes – a Grand Slam Victory Drink Bottle. Thanks to all of the students involved in the competition!