Stanmore teams debate their way to victory
27 Aug 2025
Stanmore Public School celebrated a successful round of the Premier’s Debating Challenge with two important victories against Wilkins PS.
Stanmore Red (Eliza R, Lisa O, Willa M and Phoenix MW) and Stanmore Blue (Tanishi M, Marlon C, Roisin C and Hannah E) hosted Wilkins PS in two very important debates, during Week 4. The outcome would determine the final standings for our Zone 13 division of the Premier’s Debating Challenge.
Red team
The Red team faced the Wilkins Redbacks and were tasked with arguing the negative standpoint on the topic:
Schools should give every year 6 student a turn in student leadership instead of appointing a few kids for the whole year.
The adjudicator praised Stanmore Red’s ability to provide arguments to support their opinions that the current system works just fine and that forcing leadership on others can be detrimental to their wellbeing. She also praised their ability to provide rebuttals that contained examples to demonstrate their points further and for suggesting alternative options that could better achieve the opposing team’s arguments.
The Red team were announced to be the winners of the debate as they won all three of the “clashes” that the adjudicator identified.
Blue team
The Blue team faced Wilkins Nighthawks. Their topic was:
Year 5 and 6 kids should have to spend one week of school holidays per year working for a charity.
Stanmore Blue had to argue the negative standpoint in an extremely challenging debate against a strong Wilkins team.
The team successfully won two of the three clashes the adjudicator identified in the debate, outclassing the Nighthawks by rebutting their arguments that doing charity work will reduce the screentime students are exposed to; that it improves the quality of students’ school holidays and that it fosters community engagement.
While the Blue team recognised the benefits of doing charity work can positively impact those three areas, they were able to identify some flaws in the affirmative team’s views and argued against this solution.
Stanmore Blue won the debate thanks to their strong use of examples in their rebuttals and highlighting the practical implications of their viewpoint.
A special thanks to Jake M, Isla S and Eliza E for taking on the roles of chairperson and timekeeper in each debate.