What a successful season the two Unley Primary School debating teams had this year. Up until the quarter finals both teams were undefeated, but with an unlucky placement on the leaderboard the quarter final was Unley Red vs Unley White.

The Unley Red Team, consisting of Iris, Kaila, Rishab and Arabella, went on to win their semi-final debate, taking them through to the grand finals. The grand final was held at the Parliament House and it was a significant moment walking through the grand doors to this building. We felt as though all of our hard work over the year had paid off. 

The topic for the grand final debate was ‘That swooping magpies should be culled’. We were affirmative and Mercedes College was negative. It was a tough debate, but we won! This makes us the top team in South Australia, out of 120 teams in the Year 6/7 division. It is the first time Unley Primary School has won a debating championship, and we are incredibly proud of this achievement. 

We thank Ms Alchin for her support of debating at our school and for coaching us over the last two years. We are also grateful to the teachers who came to watch our debate on the first day of the school holidays, including Peter, Mr Hillard, Mrs Lindon, Mr O’Connor and Ms Reid.

Many of us are excited to continue our debating journey in high school. 

By Iris and Indi