On Friday the 27th of November, sixteen Year 8 students travelled to Western Sydney University to take part in the “Debating Change’ development program.
Students were chosen to attend the day because of their involvement in debating opportunities or because of the potential debating skills they showed in class throughout the year.
During the day, experienced university students from the Western Sydney University Debating Club passed on their knowledge of debating to the students through presentations; workshops and a fun mock debate. It was great for students to see debating at this level and they were able to learn many new skills that they can now put into practice.
Students were rewarded for their hard work with a free pizza lunch and then gathered together to debate against teams from other schools on the topic “the voting age should be lowered to 16”. It was great to see the students put their new knowledge to the test and come up with some very creative arguments.
I would like to thank Miss Lyndal Simmonds for attending the day with me and for Mr Michael McLoughlin for driving the bus early in the morning to drop us off and pick us up at 3:30pm.
The students who attended the day were fantastic ambassadors of St Andrews College and I hope to see all of them continue to use these skills in future debating endeavours.
Miss Emily Pett
Debating and Public Speaking Coordinator
St Andrew's College Marayong
www.standrewscmarayong.catholic.edu.au
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