2018 HNHS School Magazine HNHS Magazine 2018 | Page 95

Debating Year 10
Back Row:
Front Row:
Rani Williams, William Barnes (Teacher), Poppy Kelly
Erika Bass, Aida Mackenzie Mapel, Emilie Horsfall
Debating 2018
This year we had one of the biggest debating cohorts the
school has ever seen. With multiple teams entered across
all year levels in the Hawke’s Bay Interschool Debate
Competition, there was demand and opportunity for the first
Debate Club! The Debate Club is an exciting new initiative
to improve the standard of debaters within the school. We
met on a Wednesday morning before school starts and
were open to those who are completely new to the craft or
experienced debaters. As a group we studied the skills and
foundations of structuring and presenting arguments.
you to the encouraging teachers involved (Mrs Read, Mr
Barnes, Mrs Littley-Va’asili and Mr Murfitt) for giving us
the opportunities to extend our abilities and the platform
to speak confidently. The future of debating is bright at
Havelock North High School.
Lizzie Harvey
Through the commitment of our debaters Havelock North
High School were strong competitors in this year’s regional
competition. From year 9-13 there were wins and losses
but the growth of the cohort has been immeasurable. With
the support of our debating teachers our teams attended
debates at Napier Girls’, Hastings Boys’ and even hosted the
final debating round in term three. Term two debates were
heated for our year 13 debaters. We argued topical moots
such as ‘should we only have seven weeks holiday in a
school year’ and ‘is meat eating sustainable?’ The nature of
the moots this year shows that debating is for individuals
who are interested in the world around them. Students
involved in debating have the ability to form opinions early
and think deeply about political, economic, environmental
and social issues that are affecting our generation. Thank
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