Debating

As part of the English curriculum, all Year 8-10 students participate in debating in Term 2. Students are taught the skills of persuasive language, public speaking, and the debating process and protocols. Each class conducts an in-class debate, where students work together in teams and present a range of arguments based on an allocated topic. This is an assessment task of the English curriculum. Following this exercise the class selects a team to participate in the inter-class debating competition. In recent years, winning teams at each year level have been invited to compete in an inter-school debating competition

Debate topics for the inter-class debates are centred on sustainability, ethical behaviour and intercultural understanding. These are all requirements of the Australian Curriculum and ensure students have a thorough knowledge of issues that extend beyond the English classroom.

DEBATE TOPICS (sample)
Year 8:
Round 1: Wikipedia is a force for good.
Round 2: School uniforms should be banned.
Final: Advertising is harmful.

Year 9:
Round 1: Reality TV does more harm than good.
Round 2: Animal testing should be banned.
Final: Performance Enhancing Drugs should be allowed in Professional Sport.

Year 10:
Round 1: Newspapers are a thing of the past.
Round 2: International adoption of children should be supported.
Final: Boat People are destroying Australian culture.