Language Arts

Debating

Exciting news and warm congratulations!

• Kitty He (Year 11), Debating Captain has been selected for the NSW State team.
• Maya Garg (Year 12) has been selected as the 2025 Captain of the NSW team.

We are so Pymble proud of these Debaters. They have shown tenacity and consistent improvement over many years. All the best for the forthcoming season!

ISDA and FED

Round 7 Week 9 – Friday 28 March

Our FED teams visited Sydney Boys High School for Round 7 last Friday 28 March.  Our 7A and 7B teams won, Year 9 and 10 won and our Senior As won their debates. Well done coaches and students. Thank you to all for a smooth away round.

Our ISDA teams travelled to Wenona on the Friday 28 March, where they won the Year 7 and 8 debates and the Year 10 debate. The competition was tough! Congratulations to our winning teams. Our Year 10 team remains undefeated.

This Friday– Make ups only

• ISDA Sen A at Barker
• FED – Senior A and B at Pymble online

Details will be sent by Co-curricular Administration.

Term 2

Round 7 marked the end of FED and ISDA preliminary rounds. Make up rounds have been scheduled for Friday 4 April and Friday 2 May. Following make ups, teams who break and make finals will be announced. Some teams will not progress to finals and last week marked the end of their season. Stay tuned for those teams progressing.

As Finals can mean multiple venues, please note that buses will NOT run through finals and parents must be responsible for their daughter’s travel both to and from events. Carpooling is recommended.

Parents are welcome to attend and please note that parents must arrange transport home following their daughter’s debate.

Make Up Rounds summary

Friday 4 April

• Senior A, Barker v Pymble. ISDA Round 3 makeup, Face to face at Barker. Prep commences at 5pm
• Senior A and Senior B, SBHS v Pymble. FED Round 5 makeup. Online from Pymble, to be confirmed.

Friday 2 May

• Primary A and B, Barker v Pymble ISDA Round 3 makeup. Face to Face at Barker. Ms Itzcovitz will accompany students to Barker via train.
• Senior B, Pymble V Roseville ISDA Round 5 online. We are affirmative.

Chinese Debating

Thank you to Mrs Leyya Li, our team parent who attended the opening ceremony on Saturday at The University of Sydney, with her daughter.  Round 1 commences on Saturday 12 April. Best wishes to this new team.

Organisation: NSW Chinese Debating Association

Form of debate: Prepared debate.

One match per week – three rounds (Weeks 1 to 3) – half (Week 4) – final (Week 5). Rounds will be conducted on weekends at The University of Sydney, School of Business, Abercrombie Building H70, Corner Abercrombie Street and, Codrington St, Darlington NSW.

NSDC

NSDC is Australia’s premier school debating competition and brings together the most talented young debaters from across the country, fostering excellence in critical thinking, persuasive communication and civic engagement. This year NSDC is coming to Sydney for a week in mid-May. Details and opportunities can be found on the NSDC events page.

Further Debating opportunities

• An externally run Debating camp is being offered in the April holidays. Please click here for more information and the form to enrol.
• Harvard School Australia New Zealand Debating Championship is once more open for registrations. Click here to register. Please direct any questions to competitions@speakerscornerau.com or phone on 02 8091 7946.

Public Speaking

UN Voice of Youth, National Finalists!

Congratulations to Katherine Pan (Year 11) and Hakone Liceralde (Year 10) who have both progressed to the National finals of the UN Voice of Youth Public Speaking competition. This competition will be held on the Saturday 12 and Sunday 13 April. Best wishes and congratulations from your Language Arts ‘family’, on your progression to the national finals.

DELO – Public speaking competition

Bravo to Jenny Xu (Year 11), our Public Speaking Captain who was the first Pymble student to enter this competition and be selected as a finalist.

The DELO final will be held in the Sydney Opera House on Wednesday 21 May.

Model United Nations (MUN)

EVATT – UN Youth

Requiring no prior debating experience, Evatt immerses young people in years 9 to 12 to uncover the driving forces of influence that threaten to destabilise world order all while mastering the art of public speaking through negotiation. Going beyond ordinary debating, Evatt challenges delegates to think critically, problem solve carefully, and search for answers in the rapidly changing world of current affairs surrounding them.

Evatt commences in May. This is a highly valued diplomacy competition where students work in pairs to represent a country. Pymble will transport students to Cranbrook via College bus and we ask that you attend through school rather than register online individually. When students register themselves online, we cannot offer additional training should they progress, and this also raises duty of care issues. Any Secondary students who still wish to register themselves should ensure this occurs on a weekend rather than a weekday, and parents, please note a teacher from Pymble will not accompany the girls to UTS. Mrs Hubbard will attend the Cranbrook day.

Pymble Model UN Club (PMUN)

PMUN is held each Monday at lunchtime in classroom DK06. Come along – all students are welcome!  Learn how to prepare for a MUN conference. We will hold our own Winter conference later in the year. We have also received expressions of interest for a MUN conference to be held at Castle Hill High. Please see our MUN captain, Kiki Chen (Year 11) if interested.

THIMUN – THE Hague 2026 Proposed International Tour

In January this year, Pymble Language Arts students attended THIMUN, The Hague which was a wonderful learning opportunity. Having secured a highly coveted place at this Model United Nations conference, we are keen to attend again this year as membership is ongoing and we do not want to lose our place.

The proposed January 2026 Language Arts tour will be open to students currently in Years 8 to 11. We are currently obtaining pricing on two options:

• Two week tour including a visit to Paris, France, prior to travelling on the Eurostar to the Netherlands and journeying to The Hague for the conference
• Shorter tour which just focuses on The Netherlands and the conference.

If you have a preference, Mrs Hubbard (bhubbard@pymblelc.nsw.edu.au) would love to hear from you ASAP!

An international MUN conference is an amazing experience. THIMUN has over 3,000 students from around the globe attending. These experiences for learning and growth are valued highly in Europe and by ivy league universities. This opportunity is open, but students must join our own PMUN club and attend regularly to apply.

Mock Law

Bond Mooting – The date for our heat has been released – Tuesday 20 May at 2.30pm.

Young Lawyers’ Justice Day at Wollongong University – Friday 2 May

Thank you to those students who have registered interest. We are now at maximum capacity. Information has been communicated to families and the College bus will leave Pymble at 7.30am, returning at 5.30pm.

Bronwyn Hubbard

Head of Language Arts