Debating

Senior Debaters

Standing: E. Hirst, J. Talbot, J. Buchanan, Ms C. Thompson Seated: J. Dent, B. Stafford, J. Henry-Attard, A. Young, S. Lau

Senior Debating

2014 has also been a great year for debating at Kinnoull. We had both a Year 10 and Year 12 team entered in the DAV competition in A and C Grade respectively. All participants joined in enthusiastically during the season, took advice, prepared well and spoke eloquently and with conviction at each debate. The Year 10 team consisted of Shiroy Fernando, Sri Kumar, Xavier Joseph de la MasseHomsy, Thomas Ponissi, Liam Ramirez and Keelan Tambimuttu. This team came into C Grade with excellent skills as they had been expertly trained by Ms McIlroy at Tiverton. There were 24 teams in C Grade this year and each was required to take part in three prepared, one advised and one secret topic. At the end of the five rounds the boys had won four of their five debates and were equal second on the ladder. In addition to this, Sri, Thomas and Liam were identified as the Best Speaker in three of the five debates. This same team competed in the ACC Debating Competition and are now the 2014 Division 2 champions. The Year 12 team consisting of Ben Stafford, Alec Young, John Buchanan, Josh Talbot, Jonathon Dent, Ed Hirst, Jack Henry-Attard and Steven Lau competed in the A Grade division which had 16 teams vying for top place. Of the five debates during the season, one was prepared and four were secret topics which had to be prepared in an hour on the night of the debate. Up until the final round, the team were equal first with three other schools. Unfortunately, in the last debate, we met our match – the competition was fierce and the arguments of the highest quality. These eight young men thoroughly enjoyed the challenge of debating in A Grade and presented

Year 10 Debaters themselves as disciplined, intelligent and talented speakers. I would like to thank Ms Roe for her interest in and support of the debating teams at Kinnoull during the year. We hope to build on the success of 2014 in next year’s debating competition. Mrs Christine Thompson Years 10–12 Debating Standing: S. Kumar, T. Ponissi, Ms C. Thompson Seated: J. De La Masse-Homsy, S. Fernando, K. Tambimuttu, L. Ramirez 92

Year 8 and 9 Debaters

Standing: P. Medis, A. Crestani, J. Burns, Ms K. McIlroy Seated: J. Ellul, R. Garrido, G. Intemerato, M. Harvey, E. Tambimutu Absent: N. Blizzard

Junior Debating

A number of our Year 8/9 students participated in the D Grade section of the Debating Association of Victoria’s (DAV) competition. The boys were required to research and then formulate debates on a number of topical and contentious issues throughout Terms 2 and 3. Participating in this competition meant heading out on often a cold winter’s night to Caulfield Grammar. The boys also gave up many lunch times to prepare for each competition. The students have become very competent in structuring argumentative texts and have greatly honed their public speaking skills. The students involved were Gianluca Intemerato, Jacob Ellul, Nathan Blizzard, Rodney Garrido, Ethan Tambimuttu, Panos Menidis, Jordan Burns, Max Harvey and Adam Crestani. Congratulations to all of these boys who showed great dedication in their attention to improving and developing their skills of debating.

Ms Kate McIlroy Years 7–9 Debating

Public Speaking

Standing; T. Crough, J. Hunter, A. Crestani, J. Talbot, T. Ponissi, M. Mottola, Ms K. McIlroy Seated: D. Ye, T. Puddy, W. Sidji, J. Burns, M. Harvey, L. Sadanha

Public Speaking: Tiverton

Every year the DAV runs a state-wide Junior Public Speaking Competition for students in Years 7–9. The program aims to give young speakers the opportunity to put their ideas forward in front of an audience whilst expanding their knowledge of current affairs. The students develop the “building blocks” of public presentation — confidence, clarity, and the development of arguments — which are very important skills both in and out of school. Dong Ye, Taine Crough, Trent Puddy, Joseph Hunter, Luke Saldanha, Jordan Burns and Max Harvey represented the school brilliantly in this competiton held at St Bede’s College in August. We congratulate these boys and welcome any students from Years 7–9 interested in Public Speaking to sign up in 2015.

Ms Kate McIlroy Years 7–9 Public Speaking The Lasallian Speaking Competition is an annual event hosted in honour of Brother Quentin O’Halloran, a former teacher of senior English at De La Salle. The event sees the best orators from St Bede’s, St James and De La Salle compete against one another through the delivery of a prepared speech and an impromptu speech on an unseen topic. 2014 was De La Salle’s turn to host the event and the St Miguel Theatre was the venue for some hotly-contested September action. The boys representing De La Salle were outstanding. William Sidji of Year 7 began the evening by educating the audience about deforestation. Jordan Burns, of Year 8, followed shortly, urging the audience to question Australia’s national identity, whilst Year 9’s Adam Crestani called for society to recognise the talent of rappers. As the evening progressed, Thomas Ponissi of Year 10 passionately argued that it is time for gender equality before Matthew Mottola vehemently contended that technology is not killing conversations, bad manners are. Joshua Talbot rounded off the evening by presenting the idea that a change in consumer choices can have a positive impact on society. Our students were very competitive amongst a strong field from St James and St Bede’s, winning the competition at three of the six year levels. Congratulations to Jordan Burns (Year 8), Thomas Ponissi (Year 10) and Matthew Mottola (Year 11) on their success. I would like to take this opportunity to express my gratitude to the staff who assisted in the organisation and running of the night and the preparation of students. The night would not have been possible without the humour of our MCs, Enzo Hamilton (Year 11) and John Buchanan (Year 12), our student ambassadors (Year 9 and 12 students) who assisted with ushering, and our enthusiastic judges, Lindy Woodburn and Harry Lew of Toastmasters Bayside, all of whom kindly volunteered their time for the event. We look forward to building upon this success when St James host the competition in 2015.

Ms Rose Roe Years 10–12 Public Speaking

Lasallian Public Speaking Challenge