Facing off against 666 schools, the Terrigal Primary School debating team, Terrigal Tigers, was named runner-up in the 2020 NSW Premiers Debating Challenge.
The four-person team consisted of Year Six students Zoe Smith and Coco Furniss and Year Five students Abby Peterson Hampshire and Sophie Semetka.
Year Five teacher and debate team coordinator, James Ridley, said the team was presented with the Liz Bugbird inaugural Hunter and Central Coast shield and medallions via Zoom.
“The topic for the final round was All children in primary school should be taught by a different teacher each week’,” Ridley said.
“We were the affirmative team, which meant we agreed with it.
“We had the tricky end of the deal, but they did really well.
“They came up with some really strong arguments about teachers sharing the workload and children being prepared for change, and they did really well.”
Ridley said the team had to go against many local and state schools before getting to the final round.
“We were against teams from Bathurst, Newcastle, Hunter Valley, Sydney and more,” he said.
“We got all the way up to the final and competed against a team in Sydney.
“Unfortunately, we lost, but two of the adjudicators voted for them, and one voted for us so that just shows how close the final was.”
Jacinta Counihan