Stage Four Debating Day at St John’s Nowra

The Day
On the 20th of October, (Thursday, Week 2), the Edmund Rice Year 7 and Year 8 Debating teams attended a whole-day debating competition held at St. John’s the Evangelist Catholic High School, Nowra. There were 4 competing schools; Edmund Rice, St. Mary’s, Corpus Christi, and St. John’s.

Debates
Students participated in 3 debates throughout the day. The first was a prepared debate which teams had a few days to prepare for prior to the competition day. The following two were Impromptu; the teams were separated into individual rooms with a whiteboard, pens and paper to prepare their debate in a time of one hour.

The topic for the first, prepared debate was that “King Charles III should be our last Monarch”. The Edmund Rice team was affirmative, and both the Year 7 and 8 teams won their prepared debate against St John’s Nowra. The topic for the second, impromptu debate was that “Censorship is necessary”. The Edmund Rice team was negative, and both year 7 and 8 teams lost this debate against St Mary’s. The topic for the third, impromptu debate was that “Schools should receive corporate funding”. The Edmund Rice team was negative, and both year 7 and 8 teams won this debate against Corpus Christi.

Thus, with both teams scoring ⅔, it shouldn’t go unmentioned that all the debates were very close and it was certainly interesting to hear different opinions and perspectives about these topics.

Overview
All in all, it was a great day; the students really enjoyed this experience and they got to meet new students and teachers. The drive to and from Nowra was exceptional, as Mr Griffiths drove us. (Which isn’t very common!). The Edmund Rice team is looking forward to their final debates during Term 4 to finish off the year.

Daniel Morozov – Year 7

Stage Five Debating Day at Edmund Rice College

Last Friday teams from St Mary’s, St John the Evangelist, Nowra, and Corpus Christi, visited the College to engage in three rounds of debate for the Catholic Schools Debating Association Competition.

The first round of debate was on the use of UN military forces and Ukraine. The two impromptu rounds explored the issues of violence in the media, and the use of the ATAR and NAPLAN as educational tools. All the teams debated with enthusiasm and intelligence, prompting much discussion by the audiences.

Congratulations to the Year 9 Edmund Rice Team who progressed to the regional finals of the CSDA Competition, and the Year 7 team who will play off against St Mary’s for the next round.

Thank you to all the staff and students who helped make this a successful day.