RHS Porcupines

During the weekend of 25 & 26 March, the Riccarton debating team, the RHS Porcupines, competed at the Canterbury Regionals debating competition held at the University of Canterbury. The event, run by the New Zealand Schools’ Debating Council, had schools from all across Christchurch participating. Topics debated over the weekend included: ‘New Zealand should become a state of Australia’, ‘This House would ban TikTok’, and ‘Performance enhancing drugs should be allowed in all sports’.

Usually, the RHS Porcupines have Adam Henderson as 'first speaker', Rahil Uddin as 'second speaker' and 'leader’s reply', and Hugh Ryan as 'third speaker'. Unfortunately, with Adam unable to attend the competition, the team had to ‘ironman’ for the weekend. ‘Ironmanning’ in debating means that a team debates with two speakers rather than three. For Riccarton, this meant that Hugh assumed the 'first speaker' role as well as 'third speaker'.

Despite this, the team achieved considerable success; winning all five of their debates over the two days. This made Riccarton High School the only school in Canterbury to achieve a 5-0 record in the regular rounds. Unfortunately, because of our 'ironmanning' status, Riccarton was not eligible to break for the semi-finals. Instead, Burnside High School, Cashmere High School, St. Andrew’s College, and St. Margaret’s College entered the semi-finals, with St Andrew’s College ultimately winning the regionals in a final debate against Cashmere High School.

Additionally, both speakers achieved individual success. Hugh was named a Highly Commended Speaker, and Rahil gained the great honour of being named as a member of Canterbury’s five-person debating squad that will travel to Wellington to compete in the New Zealand national competition. Furthermore, recognition should also go to Caley Tee, Arabella Aitken, and Olivia Barlow; Riccarton’s second debating team who would have also been at regionals had it not been for last-minute illness within the team.

The success at regionals shows that Riccarton High School is once again establishing itself as a strong debating school. Keep an eye out for future updates from Riccarton debating, as both teams continue to compete in the regular Thursday night competition run by the Canterbury Schools’ Debating Council.