At this time of year, Barbreck Debating has a bye to make way for the annual Barbreck Public Speaking Competition. Run by Ms Sandra Ching, Public Speaking is arguably (no pun intended!) the most exciting competition of the year.

All students from Years 3 to 6 work hard to polish their speeches and practise their delivery techniques. If you had been free to walk the halls of the Junior School in the last two weeks, you would have seen small groups of students, cue cards in hand, rehearsing and listening to each other. The excitement is palpable!

As well as hearing from some very accomplished public speakers, the audience, during Assembly today was persuaded, informed, made to think and entertained by the topics chosen.

The finalists for 2021:

Year 3     Nina Calvert and Eva Franes Cid

Year 4     Serena Ma, Alicia Lai, Coco Thomas and Camilla Thomas

Year 5     Holly Farrer, Camilla Aberdeen, Carla Martuccio and Tavia Anh Pham

Year 6     Olivia Grasso, Polly Moir, Isla Morris and Alexa Sowerby

Results to follow!

On behalf of the Barbreck Debaters, I would like to take the opportunity to acknowledge the inaugural Barbreck Debating Year 10 Coaches (2019) as they complete their VCE exams and leave St Catherine’s:

Clementine (Cece) Newton-Brown and Lucy Campbell (School Co-Captains), Sophie Williams (Captain of Drama), Allegra Dennison (Student Executive and Captain of Langley Templeton House), Chloe Cooper (Captain of Rowing), Ella Johns (Captain of Community Service), Jessica Yang and Victoria Patsakos (Captains of Debating and Public Speaking), Sophie Gough and Georgina Vote.

I would also like to congratulate the 2020 Year 10 Coaches on their leadership positions for 2022:

Angela Yu and Madeleine (Maddie) Powell (School Co-Captains), Eloise Rudge (School Executive and Captain of Debating and Public Speaking), Annabelle Green (Captain of Boarding), Madeleine (Maddie) Farrer (Captain of Davis), Lilli Holmes (Captain of Sport) and Lan-Tien Yen-West (Captain of Debating and Public Speaking).

Congratulations also to Flora Du (Year 10 Coach 2021) who has been awarded a Swannie Award for the Hawthorn region – the highest individual award a debater can receive from the Debating Association of Victoria. This is a remarkable achievement.

The involvement of Year 10s as coaches is one of the strengths of Barbreck Debating. They are impressive and accomplished role models.

They go forward with our gratitude and best wishes.