STUDENTS at Ballarat Grammar have achieved a first for the school.<\/p>\n
The year 9 debating team secured the school\u2019s position on the Debaters Association of Victoria\u2019s honour roll earlier this month after winning the Grade D schools championship.<\/p>\n
The team consisted of students Angela Sun, Jamie Noble, and Xander Warren, with the latter saying it was \u201cexhilarating\u201d to win.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt didn\u2019t set in until I was on the bus home. We\u2019d gotten a lot further than all the other traditionally really good schools so it was all pretty unbelievable,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI didn\u2019t quite believe we\u2019d won. When they announced it, I had to check my cue cards to see that they actually called us.\u201d<\/p>\n
The finals consisted of five rounds with the team previously taking part in five regional rounds from March through to July.<\/p>\n
The topic up for debate was \u2018We prefer trial by judge alone to trial by jury\u2019 which the team argued in favour of against Braybrook College.<\/p>\n
Other issues included gambling sponsorships in sports, the Australian citizenship test and the rise of social media.<\/p>\n
Practice and research started a few weeks into term one and took place regularly on Tuesday afternoons.<\/p>\n
Ballarat Grammar\u2019s director of curriculum John Lee said the team\u2019s win is already influencing the direction of the school\u2019s debating program.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe school\u2019s often synonymous with\u2026 success in sports. Something of this nature hasn\u2019t really happened before,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re incredibly proud and it\u2019s nice to see our year 9s will hopefully be figureheads for a much more extensive debating program going forward.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is a real benchmark. We\u2019ve had 19 year 7 students that now want to take part in debating because they\u2019ve heard about these guys.\u201d<\/p>\n
A debating day for Ballarat Grammar year 7 students is set to take place as a direct result of the year 9 team\u2019s win.<\/p>\n
The last local school to win the championship was Ballarat High in 2005.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
STUDENTS at Ballarat Grammar have achieved a first for the school. The year 9 debating team secured the school\u2019s position on the Debaters Association of Victoria\u2019s honour roll earlier this month after winning the Grade D schools championship. The team consisted of students Angela Sun, Jamie Noble, and Xander Warren, with the latter saying it […]<\/p>\n