News

Last week saw Tenison Woods College enter six teams across three divisions in the Mount Gambier Eisteddfod Debating. This competition sees schools travel from all over the region and this year included teams from as far away as Frances and Hamilton, Victoria.

The College’s Year 7 speakers were involved in two debates, taking each side of the topic ‘That reading books is better than watching television’. The affirmative team of Nellie Badenoch, Sarah van Rijthoven and Amelie Hayes won their debate. The second team, consisting of first-timers Jaimee Smith, Susannah Bhutia and Paige Exelby, took the negative side of the topic and presented well. While they were narrowly defeated, they gained a lot from the experience in terms of delivering speeches and dissecting rebuttal points.

On the Thursday, two teams were involved in the Junior Secondary Division, with the team of Ethan Hopgood, Liam Nott and Aiden Mustey victorious in a close debate, arguing the topic ‘That superheroes are more relevant than ever’, presenting some excellent rebuttal of their opponent’s arguments. Later in the day, the team of Ashley de Jong, Campbell Fox and Edie Jones went on to win their debate on the topic ‘That crime does pay’, delivering a wider-ranging argument.

The Senior Secondary Division was held on the Friday, with another two teams from the College competing. The first, with Jemima Aungon, Adele Prosperi-Porta and Laura Cesario presented a strongly-researched and highly articulated refutation of the topic ‘That the media serves us well’, winning their debate with a clinical dissection of their opponents arguments. Our final team argued the more light-hearted topic ‘That vampires are better than werewolves’. Sophia Weston, Matisse Schmidt and Amelia Taylor delivered an entertaining, informed and pun-filled debate, which successfully put the bite on their opponents. Sophia Weston was also awarded the Runner-Up Best Speaker for the day, which is a significant achievement in her first debate.

The Eisteddfods provide a challenge for our Students, where they can develop their skills no matter their ability or experience, mix with other like-minded Students across the region and push themselves to continuously improve. If your child is looking to do any of these, Debate Club runs every Thursday at lunch, upstairs in the Pam Ronan Centre, and we would love to see them there!

Adam Taylor | Teacher