At the beginning of the Term 3 School Holidays, six of our talented debating akonga attended the second 2023 Bay of Plenty Debating Regionals.

Structured in the British Parliamentary debating style, this regional competition differed from the first held in March as it provided a unique and fresh approach to debating that many hadn’t tried before.

Our dazzling Year 12 duo - Kiarni Sperling and Layla Hoskin - made it to the final, with Kiarni being awarded the third-best speaker in the Bay of Plenty.

Layla states, “The tournament was a good opportunity to try out a new style of debating, and it was super fun! I hope to see more opportunities for debating in The Bay in the future and more Tauranga Girls’ College involvement.”

The day consisted of three rounds, then the finals, with the moots/topics of debate listed below:

Round 1: “This house prefers a world where people do not pursue education overseas.”

Round 2: “This house regrets the normalisation of parasocial relationships with famous people.”

Round 3: “This house would focus on adapting to the consequences of climate change rather than trying to prevent it.”

Finals: “This house regrets the existence of tall poppy syndrome.”

Our talented ākonga displayed wonderful involvement in these complex subjects through many victories throughout the day.

Ka pai wahine!