It is heartening to know that our second year under COVID conditions has not dimmed the enthusiasm or achievements of our debaters.

Our Junior Debating season saw 23 eager Years 7 and 8 students compete in three rounds of online debates, ably coached by their Year 11 Mentors. Wins were experienced by almost all teams, and Team 2 (Ava Hargrave, Isabella Soutter, Alexandra Mirabella, Isabelle Peter and Diya Asthana) performed exceptionally well and was undefeated. Their highly organised Mentors were: Eloise Rudge, Annabelle Green and Lucy Bainbridge. Best Speakers for the competition included Year 7 students, Diya Asthana, Isabelle Peter and Yutong (Irina) Pan; and Year 8 students, Gemma Thorn, Martha Officer and Rachel Carton. We look forward to welcoming all of our Junior debaters back in 2022, where some will transition into the Senior Competition.

In the online British Parliamentary Competition, last year’s Semi-Finalists, Eloise Rudge and Pia Zayontz, brought their experience to the Senior Division. Our congratulations go to Year 10 students, Ava Colosimo and Jemima Wilcox, who made it to the Grand Final of the Intermediate Division, coming second overall – a magnificent achievement in a hard-fought competition.

Further accolades go to Jemima who was one of the top 10 speakers for the regional heat where 28 teams competed from 13 schools; a total of 63 students. This is a competition unlike traditional debating where speakers may ask for points of information of opposing speakers as we might see on the floor of Parliament, and senior debaters often find it to be a fast-paced and animated competition.

Flora Du received a Swannie Award in Debating, the DAV’s highest accolade .

Finally, I am extremely pleased and proud to announce that Year 10 student, Flora Du (C Grade) has been awarded a Swannie Award for the Hawthorn region – the highest individual award a debater can receive by the Debaters’ Association of Victoria (DAV) and, therefore, extremely rare. In our region, only five “Swannies” were awarded for the 2021 Debating season.

The Swannie Awards are named after Alan Swanwick, a long-time member of the DAV and a pioneer of Debating in Victoria. “Swannies” are awarded to the speaker in each region and grade who has the highest average speaker score after completing at least three debates during the year. The average is calculated solely on speaker scores and is not affected by the Best Speaker Awards that are announced at the end of each debate.

Flora joins the elite company of two other St Catherine’s students who received “Swannies”: Susannah Guthrie (’09) in 2007, and Kate Clark (’14) in 2013, who has also been an Old Girl coach for Senior Debating.

Flora will be invited to attend an online ceremony in November to accept her award and she takes our good wishes with her. I am certain Flora and all the students mentioned here will continue to inspire others with their skills and achievements for many years to come.