Debating and Public Speaking

Debating

Debating and Public Speaking has really kicked off for Term Two at Staughton College.

We have completed three out of five rounds of senior school interschool debating for the Debaters Association of Victoria at our host school for the region, St. Bernard’s in Essendon.

The scores for each grade are as follows:

Teams have been attending weekly meetings to prepare for their debates and public speaking competitions and should be proud of the efforts they have put in, especially those participating in debating and public speaking events for the first time. Our next Interschool Debating event will take place on the 30th of May at St. Bernard’s College in Essendon and we encourage parents and guardians to come along to support students participating.

We also have the Wyndham Public Speaking Competition coming up on the 30th of May at the Wyndham Youth Resource Centre. Jason Anastasi and Nikita Pereira will represent Staughton College at the competition. On the 24th of May, Zac Geddes and Lauren Donaldson competed in the prestigious Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority Plain English Speaking Awards (PESA). In Week 9, on Friday the 10th of June, we have a Staff vs. Students debate on the topic that “Homework is necessary for a good education.” Students will be arguing the affirmative and staff the negative. Zac and Lauren will also be representing our school at the State Finals of the Rostrum Public Speaking Competition at St. Kevin’s College in Toorak on the 19th of June. We have lots of exciting things happening in Debating and Public Speaking this month and look forward to Junior School Debating in Semester Two. GO TEAM STAUGHTON!    

For more details/information regarding debating or public speaking, or any of our upcoming events, please contact Ms Clancy at the College.

So far this year, debating has been going well. Our latest debate, on the 16th of this month, saw our A Grades win. They have been performing exceptionally well this year. Unfortunately, our B Grades lost but they had an extremely hard topic, debating that the ABC should be privatised.  The C Grades also lost but they did a terrific job anyway. D Grades were debating whether or not prison labour should be used for public works, and they lost too. At the time of writing, we have two students going to a public speaking competition called PESA, Lauren Donaldson and I, and everyone at Staughton wishes us the best of luck! Student Reflection – Zachary Geddes