Debating 2020 Wrap

Despite the cancellation of the Gold Coast Debating Competition in March, our debaters (along with several teams invited from other schools) were given the opportunity this term to fine-tune their skills with a brand-new format - the 2020 Somerset Debating Competition! Things looked very different in the preparation rooms for our 12 teams, which had students spanning from Year 7 to Year 12.

Unlike the Gold Coast competition, teams had access to their devices and support from their coaches in the time between receiving their topic and the commencement of their debates.

Although an unorthodox approach for those used to preparing with no outside assistance, these new rules allowed students to infuse their arguments with research and evidence. This created many compelling cases on topics including 'Space exploration is worthwhile', 'Academic achievement is overvalued' and (possibly the most contested): 'TikTok should be banned'. Having coaches present in the room also gave new debaters the opportunity to create a good foundation of debating knowledge in preparation for next year’s competition.

After all teams competing in four rounds, the Intermediate and Senior competitions concluded last week, with the finals being held at Palm Beach Currumbin. We were very impressed with our Year 8 Intermediate team, consisting of Anna Thomas, Patrick Liu, Elliot Bartley, Hayeon Byun, Penelope Deacon, and Emmeline Anthony. In a division dominated by students from Years 9 and 10, this team was pitched against an undefeated PBC team for the final. The team put up an incredible fight, ultimately only losing the debate by one point, placing them second overall for the competition.

Although our Senior teams did not qualify for a final, all debaters from both the Intermediate and Senior divisions performed extraordinarily well throughout this competition, and we cannot wait to see their successes in the years to come.

There were five Somerset teams competing in the Junior division, with new and returning debaters from both Years 7 and 8. Throughout the course of the competition, all of these students improved by leaps and bounds in both confidence and skill.

On Wednesday night, the two undefeated Junior teams, SOM 3 (Bella Beer, Emily Nickels, Anika Lu, Leylah Zubair, and Riley Jennings) and SOM 5 (Summer Edgely, Georgie Kilmartin, Lael Jeon, Luke Jeon and Jaden Lee) competed against each other in a live-streamed final debate. After presenting two very strong cases on the topic 'Everyone should become vegan', the panel of adjudicators ultimately gave the debate to SOM 3 by an extremely small margin, making them the winners of the Junior competition. Congratulations to both teams for an excellent debate!

Special thanks must go to Miss Burgess for giving our students the opportunity to participate in this competition, and we wish all of our debaters the very best of luck for 2021.