New Zealand Schools’ Debating

Wanganui High School win Hardie-Boys Cup for first time

On 26-27 March the 2011 Russell McVeagh Central North Island Regional Debating Championships were held at Feilding High School. Fourteen teams from Wanganui, Palmerston North, Feilding, and Marton took part.

Rounds 1 and 2 were on the motion “This House would abolish the Maori seats”. Teams were able to prepare in advance, and had the chance to debate both sides.

The rest of the tournament consisted of limited preparation debates, where teams had 30 minutes to prepare. The limited preparation topics were “This House would ban cosmetic surgery”, “This House would legalise commercial whaling”, and “This House would end government funding for the arts”.

On Sunday afternoon the tournament was narrowed to semi-finals. Wanganui High School, St Peters College 1, Nga Tawa 1, and Palmerston North Boys 1 made it to the semi-finals. Two teams from Wanganui Collegiate also did very well but narrowly missed out.

The semi-finals were closely contested. The motion was “This House believes that public sector employees should not be allowed to strike”. St Peters 1 and Wanganui High School made it to the Grand Final, where they debated “This House would ban home schooling”. After an extremely good debate Wanganui High School were declared the winners of the Championships, in a unanimous but very close decision.

Two members of the 2010 CNI team are returning to the team this year: Elizabeth Begley (St Peters College) and James Penn (Wanganui High School). Joining them is Rhys Judd from Palmerston North Boys College. With two of the team in year 12, we are excited about CNI’s prospects not only this year but for next year as well.

Winning team from Wanganui High School

CNI Team 2011 plus Reserve

The best speaker of the tournament was Elizabeth Begley.

Thanks very much to Feilding High School, who hosted the tournament. Many thanks also to the adjudicators – Josh Cameron, Clodagh O’Connor-McKenna, Hugh McCaffrey, Ella Edginton, Aric Shakur, Daniel Wilson, Cameron Price, and Jodie O’Neill.

Previous Winners
Previous winners of the Central North Island Regional Schools’ Debating Championships can be found here.

Previous Teams
Previous Central North Island Regional Schools’ Debating Teams can be found here.

2010 Championships
For a report on the 2010 Russell McVeagh Central North Island Regional Schools’ Debating Championship, click here.

2009 Championships
For a report on the 2009 Russell McVeagh Central North Island Regional Schools’ Debating Championship click here.

2007 Championship
For a report on the 2007 Russell McVeagh Central North Island Regional Schools’ Debating Championship click here.

2005 Championship
For a report on the 2005 Russell McVeagh Central North Island Regional Schools’ Debating Championship click here.