In a tight quarterfinal, debating went down to a strong Auckland team in the National Online Schools’ Debating Competition on Monday night.

Having been given the negative side of the moot “This house believes that police should have the power to conduct warrantless searches to enforce COVID-19 restrictions”, our side pushed hard on the fundamental idea of privacy and the distrust of the police force which the moot could provide.

Unfortunately, we came up short against the top seeds and consequently were eliminated from the competition. It has been a great experience for the team and facing top quality opposition from around the country has been testing but rewarding. A round robin record of only one loss to our name before a quarterfinal qualification in a national competition is a fantastic success for our school - it continues the more than one hundred year history of OBHS debating sides.

We now look to the future with a return to debating hopefully on the horizon for both seniors and juniors in the coming months through a variety of competitions. It is certainly very exciting!