SIS Debating Round 1

On Tuesday 31 July, Berwick Grammar participated in the first round of the SIS Debating Competition, which was held at John Paul College in Frankston. Students debated issues such as the banning of mobile phones in school, mental illness in the workplace and the allegedly counter-productive nature of militant vegan protests.

This round was a spectacular success for Berwick Grammar. Our junior team and two intermediate teams won both their prepared and impromptu debates. Jake Giddins, Achila Perera, Connor Beck, Sebastian Nugara and Miller Marks-Boulton were all recognised as ‘best speaker’ in at least one debate.

Our senior team convincingly won their prepared debate, however they lost by a margin of three points in their impromptu topics. This was not a total loss though. The debate was of an incredibly high standard for this level of competition, and the feedback from a particularly skilled adjudicator gave our boys a lot of insight into how they can best improve. It was a valuable learning experience for Max Walton Briggs, Oliver Ward and James Agahi, who have not suffered a loss since 2018.

Once again, we would like to thank John Paul College for hosting this competition, and for the SIS Group for facilitating this event. The boys are looking forward to the next round on Thursday 29 August, where we are hoping to build on this round’s success.

Mr Sean Pieper
mySummit Extra Curricular Enrichment Coordinator