Oratory Article
Cranbrook represented at the NSW Junior Speaking Competition
Last Wednesday, Year 7 students Alexander Kitto and Owen Jarrett represented Cranbrook at the local heats of the NSW Junior Speaking Competition. Both students spoke exceptionally well in the prepared section: Alexander on the importance of student agency in academic subjects and Owen on the power of learning another language.
The impromptu speeches focused on the topic ‘walking a tightrope’. Success in this section of competition (weighted equally to the prepared speeches) relies on dealing with the stimulus literally and figuratively and both Alexander and Owen balanced both criteria with careful consideration.
It was a highly competitive field and the adjudicator noted the challenge in selecting only a fraction of students from the group to progress to regionals. While Alexander and Owen do not progress, it was pleasing to see and hear them applying so much of what they have been learning in Monday afternoon public speaking sessions. Both projected well, engaged the audience with their voices and non-verbal choices, tackled subject matter that went beyond common school based topics like studying for exams (which never scores well in competition settings), and offered the adjudicator practical solutions to problems faced: for Alexander that was to facilitate student and teacher dialogue around text selection in class, and for Owen that was to challenge ourselves by learning to embrace new thinking through new languages.
We look forward to seeing both students and others in our public speaking sessions continue to experiment with topics, voice and style. Currently, students in Years 7-10 have the opportunity to sign up for the 2024 Voice Competition – more on that below.
Students teaching students
Last Thursday, the Semester 2 Legal Debating group was fortunate to learn from state finalist and national runner-up school mooter Owen Woolford. Owen kindly took a break amid his mock IBDP exams to instruct and guide the group of Years 10 and 11 students in the fundamentals of mooting and how to unpack and evaluate a legal case. Students had the opportunity to ask questions from someone who has recently been through the process of mooting competition and earned great success in that area. Our thanks to Owen for his time and expertise.
Senior student oratory leaders have been active this year in imparting wisdom gained from years of expert coaching themselves, which has also included:
- Model UN leaders Alex Hong and Robbie Wyer chairing weekly Security Council style debates and mentoring Years 10 and 11 students in the same roles,
- Public Speaking leader Piers Alcott co-coaching junior speakers in refining their speeches and gaining confidence verbalising before an audience, and
- Debating leaders Angus Malcolm, Caspar Nicholson and Leonid Burshstein mentoring Year 11 debaters and supporting our social debaters on Thursday afternoons.
There is immense value in students teaching other students, adding another layer to the rich coaching experience provided by teaching staff and external coaches. It is our hope that this developed senior student culture will continue to be passed down to successive senior cohorts – on Friday night, one Year 11 student mentioned to me how much he learnt in the prep room from working alongside a Year 12 debater as part of the rotational 4ths social team; no doubt he will one day be in the reverse position and be that same kind of mentor and support for a younger student.
CAS Competition Debating Update
Last Friday’s debates against St Aloysius focused on education topics. Although high quality debates, unfortunately only one team can ultimately emerge victorious. Cranbrook and its North Shore rival split the wins 50:50, with our 7As, 7Bs, 8As, 4ths, 3rds and 1sts all taking the ‘gold’ (if debating were a an Olympic sport, Australia would certainly have boosted its recent record medal tally to even greater heights – such is the standard coming out of schools presently, making for exciting evenings worth coming to watch!).
Special congratulations to the 8As and the 1sts, both of whom remain undefeated going into Round 4.
See below the CAS topics:
| Division | Round 3 CAS: Education |
| 7A and 7B | That we should suspend students that fail to report serious bullying. |
| 8A and 8B | That we should pay teachers according to the performance of their students. |
| 9A and 9B | That we should pay teachers according to the performance of their students. |
| 10A and 10B | That we should implement mandatory “Parenting Classes” |
| Opens (choice) | That we should implement mandatory “Parenting Classes” That Australian universities should adopt a US college style system of studying a broad range of courses before focussing on their chosen major. That schools in indigenous communities should be allowed to have a flexible approach to the education curriculum. |
See below the updated tally:
| ISDA Division | Round 1 vs Trinity | Round 2 vs Barker | Round 3 vs St Aloysius |
| 7A | Loss | WIN | WIN |
| 7B | WIN | Loss | WIN |
| 8A | WIN | WIN | WIN |
| 8B | WIN | WIN | Loss |
| 9A | WIN | WIN | Loss |
| 9B | Loss | Loss | Loss |
| 10A | Loss | WIN | Loss |
| 10B | WIN | WIN | Loss |
| 4ths | WIN | Loss | WIN |
| 3rds | Loss | Loss | WIN |
| 2nds | WIN | Loss | Loss |
| 1sts | WIN | WIN | WIN |
This Friday 16 August sees the following debates take place:
| Details | CAS |
| Round | Round 4 vs Knox |
| Venue | The Knox Cultural Centre Building |
| Address | 2 Borambil St, Wahroonga NSW 2076 |
| Entry via | Entry via Borambil St Gate 2 – best for those arriving via train, please follow the signs through to debating Entry via Woodville Avenue Gate 16 – Walk past the oval and follow signs to debating. |
| Years 7-9 debate / finish | Debates start 6.30pm / Debates finish 7.30pm |
| Years 10-12 debate / finish | Debates start 7.30pm / Debates finish 9.00pm |
| Topic area | Law and Justice |
| Spectator policy | Spectators welcome |
A reminder that all Years 7-9 debaters must be collected by a parent or guardian at the end of the night.
Upcoming oratory events
- Model UN lunchtimes this Wednesday 14, Thursday 15 and Friday 16 August
- Social Debating, Mooting and Mock Trial this Thursday 15 August from 3.30-5.30pm
- AMEB Voice and Communication group this Friday 16 August from 3.30-5.00pm
- CAS Debating R4 vs Knox this Friday 16 August from 3.45pm
- Public Speaking next Monday 19 August from 3.30-5.30pm
Competition opportunities
The following competition opportunities are currently available for students to sign up. Please note there is no cost to students entering any of the competitions below:
- Australia vs USA policy debates
Students involved with competition debating can sign up to participate in our second round of policy debates against our friends in the Washington DC Debate League. Sign up is via our dedicated TEAMS channel.
- Debate of Origin
Competition and social debaters can sign up to represent Cranbrook and NSW in the 2024 Debate of Origin competition. This year Cranbrook is hosting the event the weekend of 13-15th September and will welcome Churchie (Qld), Melbourne Grammar (Vic), and St Peter’s (SA) to the Eastern Suburbs for engaging interstate debates and some social fun. Sign up is via a form sent to competition and social debaters.
- NSW Voice Competition
Any student in Years 7-10 with an interest in public speaking on global issues is encouraged to sign up for the NSW Voice Competition, which will be held during Term 4 (heat dates TBC). Students will need to construct and deliver a prepared speech based on a stimulus that will be provided and will need to respond in an impromptu session to a series of questions that the adjudicators will pose. Any student involved in oratory programmes can sign up via a competitions post in their dedicated TEAMS channel, and students not currently involved can sign up via an email already sent. There will be coaching opportunities for all students who sign up.
- International Debating Championships
All students in Years 7-10 are welcome to sign up for the International Debating Championships (IDC), which runs online Friday evenings during October and November. Coaching is provided for teams and the competition attracts all levels of experience. In past years, Cranbrook IDC debaters have encountered teams from all across Australia and Asia, the Middle East and as far west as Africa. Students need to form teams of 4-5 students (team entries only) and respond to the email already sent. Students need to sign up by the close date specified in the email.
- International Public Policy Forum Written Debating Competition
All students in Years 9-11 are welcome to sign up for the International Public Policy Forum Written Debating Competition. Sponsored by New York University, the competition invites students to choose a side and write an essay debate to a resolution. Teams that reach Top 64 status (as Cranbrook has done twice now, and even reached the Top 32 in 2023) are then power matched with other global schools to compete in a series of back and forth written constructive and rebuttal essays. Teams that achieve the ‘Elite 8’ status get an all expenses paid trip to New York City to compete for the title and $10,000 USD. Sign up is open and we already have several teams confirmed – students interested are encouraged to form teams of at least 3 students and respond before the close date specified in the email.
Oratory programmes are fully subscribed for Semester 2
There has been a lot of recent interest in participating in one or more of our oratory programmes. However, close date for sign-ups have long passed and we are presently fully subscribed across all debating, public speaking, and Model UN. We are therefore unable to accept new enrolments. However, students keen to gain access to our resources and prepare themselves for Semester 1 2025 sign-up are welcome to reach out to me (note, we only accept expressions of interest from students directly). Sign-up for Semester 1 2025 offerings will circulate via student email in February.
Any competitions open to all students will be circulated via student email and notice will also be provided in these weekly links to families. Note, all sign ups must be done by students only.
Contact
Should you or your son have any further questions about any of Cranbrook’s oratory programmes, you are welcome to reach out to the Head of Oratory and Student Journalism, Mr Benjamin Smith, at bsmith@cranbrook.nsw.edu.au. In the first instance, students should be making contact about getting involved.
Essential information and highlights for parents will be posted here on Cranbrook Connect as part of the Thursday Link. Students involved in oratory programmes will receive updates via their respective Canvas or TEAMS channels.
Benjamin Smith
Head of Oratory & Student Journalism