Debating and Public Speaking Wrap up for 2022

This week saw our final activities for Debating and Public speaking for this year.  We have had a busy year with nearly 200 MLC School students participating on one or more of our many co-curricular events and classes through the year.  It’s been our most successful year ever with our FED team coming overall first out of 14 schools, our ISDA team coming third out of 32 school and our Archdale team coming first out of 23 schools in competitive debating.  We have had students get through to Regional finals and Semi-finals in several public speaking competitions and we came third overall and first in the Junior division of the Festival of Speech.

But the accolades are only a part of what has been achieved by the students.  More important are the skills that every student has been able to work on throughout the year with the help of our coaches.  Communication skills, ability to solve problems, tenacity and teamwork skills are just some of the areas where significant focus has made a tangible difference.

On Wednesday we completed the last of 7 rounds of our interschool British Parliamentary Debating tournament.  We had 80 students participating and had some challenging topics to address.  Our last was themed for the occasion.

” It is Christmas. In pristine white snow, the track marks of Santa Claus’ sleigh are visible.  A policewoman is walking around to enjoy the Christmas spirit and discovers a small booklet.  It is Santa’s list with a complete roll of all the wrongdoings of everyone on the planet.  The policewoman immediately recognises the potential power, in the back of the booklet is Santa’s address.”  Topic: We would destroy Santa’s naughty list.

We had a lot of lively parliamentary debate from Year 6 students through to Year 11 students.  We also held our debating trials for the Year 8 to Year12 competition teams this week and those teams have now been finalised.  We will be holding trials for the Year 6 ISDA and Year 7 FED and ISDA teams in the first few weeks of Term 1 2023.

Thank you to all the parents who have supported our programs this year, I hope to see many of you at debates and events next year.  Any questions please email me at arowe@mlcsyd.nsw.edu.au.

– Andrea Rowe
Oratory Coordinator