The debate season is underway and SMC has four teams in the Wellington Speaking Union competition, in three different grades.

Developing our skills

In February we were really lucky to have two former SMC debaters come back and run a lunchtime session to help our students. Hannah Sema and Isabella Cash both finished at St Mary’s in 2023 and were members of the Wellington team that won the national debating championships, as well as being in the team that won the Premier A grade and the Impromptu Cup. It was fabulous for our students to meet them and learn from their expertise and experiences. 

Wellington Speaking Union Competition

Round 1 of this competition was a prepared round and our teams performed very well, with our Senior Certificate 2 team winning against Marsden (in what was the first ever formal debate for our whole team!) and our other teams only narrowly losing in close-fought debates. 

Round 2 was 'limited preparation', where students have 30 minutes to prepare for 6 minute speeches. Congratulations to Premier A, who won against Wellington High School, arguing the ethics of posthumously releasing artists’ music. Our junior team continues to develop and grow, as do our two senior certificate teams. 

We are grateful to our excellent student coaches - Manvi, Hope and Laika - as well as the teacher support from Molly McKenzie, Lisa Devane and Beth Draper for allowing these teams to thrive.

New Zealand Schools Debating Wellington Regionals

Two teams went to the Wellington debating regionals over the weekend of 22 and 23 March. These were held at Wellington College and we are so grateful to Cushla Thomson for hosting and to the entire team running the tournament and adjudicating debates for a fun and intellectually stimulating weekend.

Team 1: Laika Stafford, Stephanie Joyce, Arya Haripersad

Team 2: Manvi Sharma, Hope Glensor, Julia Toma

Both teams performed well across the five in-round debates, with Team 1 finishing on two wins and Team 2 on three wins. Julia Toma was awarded a Highly Commended Speaker certificate, which is a lovely reflection of her hard work over the years and her ability to cut to the heart of what’s really important in any debate.

We also held a couple of practice debates against the St Patrick’s College Premier A team in the lead up to regionals, which was excellent practice. It has been great to get the teams together and build collegiality across the two schools.