Sydney Boys High School Debating

Competitions

Sydney Boys High School currently participates in a wide range of debating competitions, as listed and explained below.

Greater Public Schools (GPS) Debating Union Competition

This is the main and most prestigious competition in which Sydney Boys High School participates. The competition is held on Friday nights from Week 1 to Week 7 in Term 3 each year. The draw follows that of the GPS Rugby, with the host team reversed.

The Eastside Debating Competition

The Eastside Competition was established in 2005 in response to the large numbers of students entering debating in the junior years and lack of opportunities for students to debate in competition pre-GPS season.

The Eastside Competition currently consists of The Scots College, SCEGGS Darlinghurst, Reddam House, Sydney Grammar School, Sydney Girls High School and Sydney Boys High School. It is a 6 round competition which runs from approximately Week 6 of Term 1 to Week 3 of Term 2, depending on the timing of the Easter break and holidays.

The Friday Evening Debating Competition

The Friday Evening Debating Competition (or FED) commenced in 2008.

The following schools are participating in the inaugural FED Comp- St Joesph's College, Barker College, Knox College, Newington College, Trinity Collge and Sydney Boys High School. The FED Comp runs concurrently wit the Eastside Debating Comp.

Premier's Debating Challenge (PDC)

The Premier's Debating Challenge (previously the Commonwealth Bank Cup) is run by the NSW Department of Education and Training's Performing Arts Unit.

Two teams from each level are entered and compete for:

The Year 7 and 8 Trophy (Junior)
The Teasdale Cup (Intermediate, year 9 and 10)
The Karl Cramp Trophy (Year 11)
The Hume Barbour Trophy (Year 12)

Debates are organised between schools by a teacher looking after debating as per the draw (provided by the area co-ordinator) and conducted during school time. Ms Berger of the History Staff is the current coordinator.

The various PDC debates run from approximately the start of Term 2 through to the end of Term 3.

Model United Nations Assembly (MUNA)

The Model United Nations Assembly (MUNA) is about developing appropriate minds for a peaceful and purposeful global future.

MUNA is an excellent opportunity for students to experience a mock or model United Nations assembly. SBHS is sponsored by Sydney-Area Rotary to attend the conference at the Nan Tien temple in Wollongong each year.

There are also other MUNA events held at

St Catherine's Waverley
Randwick Girls High
the Sydney University UN Society
the UN Youth Association.

We enthusiastically participate in these events where the school calendar and student availability permits.

Social debates

Where possible, social debates are arranged with other schools in the area and the GPS. In 2008, several social debates have been arranged in addition to the Eastside and FED Competition's, providing students with a wide range of opportunities to debate.

University debating days

Sydney University (USyd), Macquarie University (MU) and University of Technology, Sydney (UTS) all hold junior, intermediate and senior debating days, run in the university style of debating.

These debating days give the boys a taste of what university-style debating is like and use computer tabulation scoring methods to track the results. Generally three debates are held in one day and the events are vigorous and challenging learning experiences for students.

Inter-school debates

There are a variety of inter- school and invitational debates that SBHS is involved in. Examples include the Janine Best Memorial Debate at Hurlstone Agricultural High School and the History debate held at Condell Park High School for Year 10.

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