Learning  

Dear Parents /Guardians,

On Friday 26 August, I had the great pleasure of attending the Frayne Speech Festival at Emmanuel College in Warrnambool.  Each year the Mercy Schools come together to celebrate the power of speech, participating in Debating, Public Speaking and Vocal Choir competitions. 

Frayne Speech Festival

In this year’s competition, the following students participated:

DEBATING TEAM: Bethany Prior Yr 12, Aisha Binnie Yr 10, Christina Camilleri Yr 10, Ruby Silverback Yr 12, Olivia Moffat Yr 10

PUBLIC SPEAKING: Ruby Hoare Yr 12 & Isabella Morgan Yr 12 

Our students excelled in both areas, making the finals for Public Speaking and winning the overall competition in Debating. Christina Camilleri was awarded the best speaker of the Debating competition, a well deserved honour.

The accolades and silverware are, of course, gratifying!  However, the real privilege of the day was to watch our young students in full flight: presenting a point of view that revealed their thought and discernment, their conviction and their poise.  Our students were particularly eloquent under pressure, both in the impromptu portion of the Public Speaking Competition (where a speaker is given only 7 minutes to prepare) and in the unseen topic for the Debating Finals (where students were given only 45 minutes to prepare).  In both these largely unscripted components of the day, our students were challenged to present a point of view on the nature of selfishness and opportunities for mercy, kindness and advocacy.  The strength of their Mercy values shone through both in their speeches, but also in the manner in which they conducted themselves. I could not help but ponder what wonderful contributions these young women will continue to make in the community moving forward! 

Congratulations to all of our students for their success at the festival.  

Special thanks to our English Learning Leader and Public Speaking & Debating Coach, Fiona Tassone, for her tireless efforts in supporting our students to realise their potential.  Thanks too to Mr Sam Di Camillo, for his continued support of Learning & Teaching, not to mention his efforts in ferrying us all safely to and from Emmanuel College. 

The return to a more routine onsite schedule has enabled rich learning opportunities like this one to occur.  It is an important reminder that experiences outside of the classroom have so much to offer our students. I hope that many more of our students avail themselves of this opportunity again next year. 

Ms Fiona Lennon

Deputy Principal, Learning & Teaching