Year 8 Debaters Win ISDA Grand Final at MLC School

On 4 June 2021, for the first time in over 18 months, we hosted a big debating event at MLC School. The ISDA Debating competition began back in February with 32 schools from the Sydney region competing. Last year the competition was abandoned after four rounds due to COVID-19 so this year everyone was determined to see the competition continue. We started debating virtually but schools finally moved to face-to-face debating in time for the finals series. MLC School had six teams progress to the Octo Round, five teams made it to the quarter finals and three teams competed in the semi-finals. It takes a lot of hard work to make it to the Grand Finals in this knockout stage of the competition. It was exciting to not only be hosting the event but to have our Year 8 and Year 9 teams still competing.

Nine different schools competed in the grand final, with parents, carers and supporters watching their students debate and creating an enthusiastic atmosphere in the Senior Centre. Our Year 8 team powered through their debate to defeat Newington and rightly claim the trophy as the undefeated ISDA champions for the 2021 season. Our equally talented Year 9 team had a tough ask to win against an undefeated Sydney Grammar team. It was a closely fought debate, but our team was narrowly defeated in the end.

– Andrea Rowe
Debating Coordinator

Main photo: Year 8 ISDA undefeated champions
Below photo: Year 9 ISDA runners-up