From Sydney to the world: Ethics Team is heading to international finals

Middle School Ethics update

A special congratulations to the middle years ethics teams for 2025. Both teams competed against and collaborated with other students from schools across Sydney and NSW to determine the most ethical course of action in the face of some modern-day dilemmas. 

The blue team: Haesol Bok, Jessica Caristo, Annie Cordony-Jones, Willow Harris and Harriet Hoogland placed second and were awarded Silver medals. They will be representing Santa Sabina in the international finals next year against teams from across the globe, including Asia and the US. 

The orange team made up of Emma Lizier, Sienna Pirina, Ella Rixon, Emilia Srdanovic and Annabelle Wong placed fourth and received an Honorable Mention from the judges.

Both teams performed admirably, putting together coherent arguments supported by ethical theories like utilitarianism, consequentialism and deontology that they had learned about in philosophy classes and in training sessions.

The Middle School Olympiads occur in November every year with tryouts and training commencing in term 3. Students are coached by senior students and work in teams with students from Years 7, 8 and 9.

Student reflections:

The Ethics Olympiad was so eye-opening – challenging our team to think deeper and consider more closely things that we might encounter in day-to-day life. It helped me, personally, to practise thinking on the spot and prepare a presentation with little preparation beforehand. The questions also related to real-world situations or present problems, like about using AI and civilian intelligence in the ongoing Ukraine war. The Ethics Olympiad is a one-of-a-kind experience and definitely worth trying!
Annabelle Wong
Year 7

The Middle School Ethics Olympiad Competition was an enjoyable and enriching experience which allowed us to work collaboratively with a team to showcase our skills and knowledge regading a range of insightful and intriguing cases. I thoroughly enjoyed it and encourage this competition to all!
Sienna Pirina
Year 8

Ethics Olympiad is such a great experience, I learned so much and had so much fun. To everyone in the younger years, definitely give it a go! Even if you don’t make a team at first, it is an amazing learning experience!
Harriet Hoogland
Year 9

Matthew Mountford
Dean of Gifted Education