21 Aug 2017
Our Yr 9/10 debating team took on Billabong High School (Culcairn) at Leeton for our Zone Final in the NSW Premier's Debating Challenge. We were the Affirmative side for a topic that wanted to ban fast food. It was a real challenge to develop arguments that could be sustained as to why these restaurants should be banned. The other team developed some solid arguments along the lines of the benefits of employment and the economy as well as community support to win the debate.
Zone Final: That fast food restaurants like McDonalds and KFC should be banned.
1st Speaker - Lachlan Miller 2nd Speaker - Kaitlin Widdows 3rd Speaker - Sam Kitto Team Adviser - Jeff Kitto.
We also had the opportunity to participate in a debating workshop with the Flying Squad coaches from the NSW Department of Education's Arts Unit in Sydney. Our Year 9 team enjoyed the lively approach the coaches took to defining a topic and building the team's arguments. Schools participated from Temora, Leeton, Hay and Kooringal High, Wagga, They demonstrated that a debate should be the clash of ideas. The teams worked on arguments such as: On-line gambling should be banned or Self-defence classes should be taught in schools. The students developed the skills to ‘think outside the box' and to consider a range of arguments to create a debate.
