A Monumental Showdown – Year 11 Premier’s Debating Challenge

A Monumental Showdown – Year 11 Premier’s Debating Challenge
Round 3: Fort Street vs. Newtown Performing Arts High School

On Monday the 4th of April 2022, the Year 11 Debate Team engaged in their third debate for term 1 against Newtown Performing Arts High School. Our topic was ‘that we should allow students to opt out of sport and PE classes in favour of academics’ and we were given the affirmative side.

Our first speaker was Matilda Gibian who delivered an excellent speech about the benefits of devoting more time to helping students who may find certain fields of academic challenging. Rose Kenyon, our second speaker, then rebutted the opposition by outlining the interruptions that events such as last
year’s lockdown and the recent floods, brought to the delivery of sport and PE programs. Our third speaker, Dennis Yeo (and with the support of our team advisor Sebastian Lenehan Choo) reinforced our all of our arguments in a succinct and eloquent manner.

Sadly, we were defeated by Newtown thus marking the end of our Year 11 Debate Team’s chance of progressing further into the 2022 Premier’s Debating Challenge.

Nonetheless, I think every member of the Year 11 Debate Team are just grateful to be allowed to debate other schools after the 100 days lockdown of 2021 forced us to prematurely exit the Premier’s Debating Challenge in 2021 due to its sudden cancellation.

Thank you to all the debaters who formed the Year 11 Debate Team in term 1: Rose Kenyon, Matilda Gibian, Ethan Lin, Hugo Ceran-Jerusalemy, Dennis Yeo, Yexuan Yang, Sebastian Lenehan Choo and Charlotte Dillon.

I am sure you will take everything you have learnt from these debates and from the Monday after school debate workshops and return as an even more formidable Year 12 Debate Team for Fort Street in 2023!

Ms. Truong
Debating and Public Speaking Coordinator for Fort Street High School