Phoenix College host the Interschool Debating Day

Woodmans Hill Team:

YEAR 7: Amelia Trickey, Molly Fredericks, Veronica Mazzetti, & Nyachar Biel, Tia Gunstan, Takunda Butete, Cindy Lucas, Connar Cations, Tyler Flavell, Holly O'Brien, Tasha Marriott, Vincent Nube, Ash Bailey, Connor Hughes, Emergency: Tahlia Irving

YEAR 8: Tom Leech, Talia Peart, Olivia Crystal, Indigo Ferneaux, Conner Leach-Annear, Hayden Molenkamp, Joel Woods, Rarrerty Rickets, Millie Smolenaers, Maddy Berriman, Aasisha Belle Berry, Merryn Haugh, Esdras Assimadi, Kenzie Dart, Emergency: Chantelle Lucas.

YEAR 9/10: Daniel Bailey, Caitlin Hillier, Amber Townsend, Emma Van Egmond, Orlando Dabner, Raph Crawford, Ewan Martin, Amelia Strait, Tilly Bourke, Zac Russell, Chelsea Every & Xanda Lockwood.

Vincent Nube who participated in the Debating day Wrote: Some of the exciting things that happened were: there were prizes and little things we had to do to get them; for instance we had to balance books on our heads and making the best bird-noise. There were also little post-it notes that told you that you won a voucher for a movie or a dominoes voucher and tickets to Kryal castle.

There were also medals. Medals could be earnt by either being the best speaker in a group or by special preference of the judges.

Tilly Burke wrote: On Thursday, 13 teams from Woodmans Hill competed in a debating competition. We competed against Beaufort Secondary College, Phoenix Prep-12 community college and Yuille Park.

When we arrived at Phoenix we were seated in a room where we could win prizes. Many people won prizes to Bird World, Taco Bill, Ballarat Books and many other places.

We were then given an hour and a half to prepare our arguments. Groups debated topics such as, ‘senior students should have nap time’, ‘teachers should have a higher salary’ and ‘we should build a theme park on the moon.’

Once we got up and began the debate, we all shook off our nerves and had great fun. People got really passionate about their arguments, so passionate that some were called 'garbage'. It was incredibly funny to watch, and students at all schools put forward great arguments. I’m sure we all enjoyed Daniel rebutting the opposing teams’ entire arguments, unscripted and hilarious.

At the end of the day, the results for best speakers and the winning school was announced. Phoenix won the competition, while many kids from all schools won best speaker awards.

Overall, the day was a fun and exciting experience for all schools.

The Ballarat Courier published the following article:

More than 150 students from across the region carefully crafted arguments and rebuttals as they challenged each other during Phoenix P-12 Community College's second annual Interschool Debating Day.

Students from Mount Clear College, Woodmans Hill Secondary College, Yuille Park Community College, Beaufort Secondary College and Phoenix exercised their critical thinking skills as they took part in more than 20 different debates.

Senior students acted as mentors for the debate participants, who ranged from grade five pupils up to year 10 students.

"Debating sets kids up for the future, helps them in everyday life and gives them better critical thinking skills," said organiser and Phoenix teacher Jade Browning.

Ms Browning organised the first event last year after Phoenix teams competed in the Royal South Street eisteddfod debating competitions and she realised there were few other competitions for schools in the area.

The interschool debating day began with debating training session workshops before an afternoon of competition.

This year's competition had more than 60 more entrants than last year, with schools reporting increased interest in debating.

"It's definitely growing and staff have reported back from other schools that the kids really enjoy it."

The biggest group were year five and six students, many of whom were making their debut as debaters. "What was great is that some of those students who were from Woodmans Hill and Beaufort were competitors from primary schools last year," she said.

Volunteers from Ballarat South Rotary and Sebastopol/Lucas Lions also took on adjudication duties, making some tough decisions to decide who presented the best arguments.

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