CSDA Round Two

Round Two for the CSDA Debating Competition was held on Friday 31 July and saw us on the bus to attend a face-to-face debate against Christian Brothers High School in Lewisham. After a Wednesday training session, where we introduced the juniors to the topic of a ‘yardstick’ debate, we were pleasantly surprised to see that this was relevant to both our junior topic ‘That there is too much pressure to succeed’ and our senior topic ‘That Covid-19 restrictions have gone too far’. A yardstick debate is one in which a team must argue the correct amount of something - with the negative having the option to argue that there is not enough or that there is currently the perfect amount; and the affirmative having to argue that the status-quo is too far. It was pleasing to see so many of our young debaters applying their training to their debates. This week, we won five of the ten debates. Congratulations to the 7A, 7B, 8A, 10A and Senior A for their wins. A big thank you to Mrs McGillicuddy and Mr Duncan for their adjudications and support of Miss Bryant and the St Patrick’s College debating community.

CSDA Round Three

On Friday 7 August, we were back on Zoom for an online debate against our fellow Good Samaritan Education school, Rosebank College. It was once again pleasing to see our teams using their training in their debates. This week’s training session focused on our use of definitions - particularly in terms of how to use them in your rebuttal. All present teams worked together excellently to define practice topics with skill and flair, and even practised refuting definitions that Miss Bryant and Mr Duncan presented. When debate night came along, several teams were able to use this new skill to their advantage. This was the first week that the CSDA provided a different topic for every stage:

• 7/8: That single sex education should be abolished
• 9/10: That social media is gender biased
• Senior: That cool heads prevail in the global warming debate

It was thrilling to see our students tackle such challenging topics with a well-informed and open mindset. It is a testament to our girls that they can hold their own in such complex, relevant and challenging topic areas. It was pleasing to see that the feedback received from the adjudicators is demonstrating growth in our debaters - several teams are now being complimented on their use of structure and method. The next step for several teams is to flesh out their arguments and continue to link back to the topic. This week, we won three of the ten debates. Congratulations to the 7B, 8A, and 9B for their wins. This week, we have a huge number of staff to thank for their support (Miss McGillicuddy, Mr Duncan, Miss Bella, Ms Lennox, Mr Lord, Mrs Samyia). Without these staff supporting Miss Bryant and the girls, events like this could not go ahead, so we are all very grateful. 

MISA Year 7 Debating

We are thrilled to share that our Year 7 MISA team has won their Round Two debate! On Wednesday 12 August, our Year 7 MISA squad, consisting of Eliza F, Orla B, Diadem A and Jamie M, debated over Zoom in our second round against Magdalene Catholic College. Also, well done and thank you to our Timekeepers and Madam Chairs, Nikitta J and Lillian J for their very professional facilitation of the debate. The topic for the Year 7 division was 'That teachers should wear uniforms’. Our students argued the affirmative and successfully proved that uniforms for teachers would provide greater school unity and allow teachers to model professional dress for students. It was pleasing to see our girls' rebuttals improving, particularly through using methods we have covered in training, such as using the definitions as a basis for rebuttal. Thanks again to our MISA team’s superior structure, they emerged victorious. This team’s next step is to improve their elaboration through the use of further examples and persuasive phrases. A big thank you to Miss Bella for her support of Miss Bryant and the girls, and congratulations to our 7 MISA on winning their second debate in a row!

Laura Bryant - Debating Coordinator