Year 7 debating champions

Our Year 7B debating team has been named 2019 champions of their division in the Catholic Schools Debating Association metropolitan competition. They are now on their way to the State Championship in November.

This team members, Inez Crosby, Olivia Radford, Molly Hoogland, and Medha Masur Sirish, were expertly coached by ex-student Gabrielle Murphy and further supported by Ms Jane Sulis of the Santa Sabina staff.

Every year, the Catholic Schools Debating Association (CSDA) runs a Metropolitan Debating Competition between Catholic secondary schools in Sydney. Their aim is to encourage students to develop public speaking skills and to debate and challenge significant ideas and issues in contemporary society. Over 60 schools compete in this competition each year, with over 80 teams in each year group, so it is a significant achievement to make it to the final rounds.

The Year 7B team excelled in winning the Metropolitan Grand Final on Friday 2 August.

While debating helps students to develop a wide range of life essential skills, there are also many other benefits of debating. The team reflects on their experience of their first year of debating:

It has been an incredible learning experience. We have grown as debaters through the CSDA debating competition, learning so many new skills and further developing others. These include our refutation skills, the ability to develop and structure arguments, and even our self-confidence. Most importantly, we have made valuable friendships and remained close friends. We have achieved things that we never thought we would and are very proud of ourselves. We would like to thank Ms Janssen and Ms Sulis for always showing so much support and to our debating coach, Gabby who has taught us so many valuable skills. We can’t wait to debate again later in the year at the State Championships and again next year where we can hopefully match the successes of this year!

Congratulations to the Year 7B Team! At the CSDA State Championship on Friday 15 November they will be up against the regional Year 7 winner.