Debating
Debating has resumed in Term 3 with Monday afternoon coaching back to its regular time slot. Mr. Leonard our 2017-2020 Coordinator unfortunately is no longer with the Fort and as such has been replaced by Mr. Longfield, also of English. The first Debating competition we have engaged with is the Premier’s Debating Challenge, a statewide competition that some of you may be aware we have had success in before.
As of Friday September 4th, 2020, we have engaged in three debates, with our 7 (B) team emerging victorious over our 8 (A) team in the first round of the 7/8 Competition, a rare feat. The topic was ‘That private tutoring should be banned‘.
| The 8s were our Affirmative team and consisted of: | The 7 team was Negative and was represented by: |
| 1st speaker | Jonathon Bonnice | 1st speaker | Alexa Salmon | |
| 2nd speaker | Galileo Lima | 2nd speaker | Min Park | |
| 3rd speaker | Chloe O’Keefe | 3rd speaker | Eleanor Alonso Love | |
| Team Advisor | Christine Zhao | Team Advisor | Max Hutchinson |
In the 9/10 Competition, the Fort St (B) team was victorious against the St. George Girls’ (B) team on Thursday 20th August, taking the Negative position on the topic ‘That classes at school should be organised by ability instead of age.‘ Unfortunately, the Fort St. (A) Team was narrowly defeated by the Sydney Boys High School (A) team on Monday 24th August, with Fort. St. being assigned the Affirmative case on the topic ‘That schools should have a mandatory weekly Politics lesson.” The 9/10(A) was able to make up for this defeating St. George(B) in the repêchage. Their topic was ‘That we should ban all sports that involve animals’.
| The FSHS 9/10(A) Team was as follows: | The FSHS 9/10 (B) Team was as follows: | |||
| 1st speaker | Matilda Gibian | 1st speaker | Yexuan Yang | |
| 2nd speaker | Rose Kenyon | 2nd speaker | Jeffrey Chu | |
| 3rd speaker | Dennis Yeo | 3rd speaker | Ethan Lim | |
| Team Advisor | Sebastien Lenehan Choo/Hugo Ceran-Jerusalemy | Team Advisor | Jack Trimmer |
The 11 Competition was held a bit later on Thurday Sept 3, also vs Sydney Boys’ HS. Despite some issues with Zoom, (including Mr. Longfield having to hotspot his phone to keep the Zoom call’s heart beating), this was an extremely close debate on the topic ‘That HSC assessments should consist solely of examinations’. SBHS was the narrow victor in this debate, though the Year 11 team are still alive with a repêchage round to come.
The Year 11 team that competed in the round 1 of the PDC:
| 1st speaker | Satvik Sharma | |||
| 2nd speaker | Luca Butterworth | |||
| 3rd speaker | Meg Raven | |||
| Team Advisor | Om Sen |
PDC RESULTS AT A GLANCE (bolded teams win)
Round 1
| FSHS 7/8 (A) v FSHS 7/8 (B) |
| FSHS 9/10 (A) v SBHS 9/10 (A) |
| FSHS 9/10 (B) v St. George Girls’ (B) |
| FSHS 11 v SBHS 11 |
Rd. 1 repêchage
FSHS 9/10 (A) v St. George Girls’ (B)
*note Y11 repêchage opponent to be announced next week
William Longfield
English and Drama Teacher