A time of the week we all love is Friday night, around 9.30pm when our debaters come back to the dorms and tell us of their evening contests. Despite the very interesting topics given to them and irrespective of the result, we always love hearing how they have gone and the manner in which they conduct themselves is a wonderful example for all our boys. Our two teams are ISDA: Harry Bentley, Jonathon Ryan, Adrian Dawson and Aidan Kearns. FED CUP: Noah Brumby, Tom Chaplin, Liam O’Connell, Zac Bosnich and Patrick Stevens. Below is a brief report from Liam O’Connell on the Fed Cup team and Adrian Dawson on the ISDA season so far –
The Year 10 FED (Friday Evening Debating) Team has had a very busy season, with many interesting topics being put to us throughout these first 2 terms. The team, consisting of Tom Chaplain, Pat Stevens, Zac Bosnich, Noah Brumby and Liam O’Connell have represented our school in the 8-round competition. With 3 wins and 4 losses so far, there have been some closely fought debates, over topics like ‘Should we change the date of Australia Day’ and ‘Should cosmetic surgery be banned for people under 18’. We would like to thank everyone who has supported us throughout the competition;
• Mr Summers, our team facilitator,
• Finnegan Waugh, our coach
• All the parents who gave up their Friday nights to come and watch us, and the adjudicators who helped us improve our debating skills
• And all the other teams, who made this competition such a challenging but rewarding experience.
The ISDA debating competition consists of 32 schools across Sydney competing in a total of 7 rounds and an additional 4 knockout rounds for teams who successfully place in the top four of their pool. From debating topics such as “That we should ban the public denial of climate change” to “Employers should not be able to access prospective employee’s criminal records” and even, “That people who earn above the median income should not be able to run for parliament”. Our team- Adrian Dawson, Harry Bentley, Jonathan Ryan and Aidan Kearns – has had a challenging and worthwhile season so far.
In the end, we won 5 of the 7 debates, losing against Abbotsleigh and PLC and winning against Ravenswood, St Aloysius’, St Augustine’s, Trinity and Queenwood.
This has led to us making it into the ISDA finals for the third year in a row. This makes us one of only two teams of the school to progress to the finals, with the other team being the firsts.
This would not have been possible without our coordinator Mr Summers and our coach Finn Waugh as they have both been very useful in helping us progress as speakers (in and out of debating).
Finally, we would just like to thank students, parents and staff who have watched, supported and shown interest in our debates, especially Sam Carrington and Mr Ticehurst who after every round have shown an interest in our results. Hopefully we will progress further into the finals than previous years and achieve similar success in the upcoming GPS season.
