Debating

The Debating Society is one of the few areas of College life that was able to continue unabated in spite of the challenges of Covid-19. The boys became adept at debating on online platforms, and they continued to excel in the regional tournaments.

The Gauteng Schools’ SACEE Debating League began in March and as usual a great deal of time and effort went into the preparation for this tournament. The juniors coped admirably with having to debate online and made significant progress, performing well enough to make the plate rounds of the championships. The seniors had an excellent start to the season and won six out of their seven debates in the preliminary rounds; they broke third with the highest cumulative speaker points in the tournament. In the octofinals of the plate championships, the juniors sadly lost against Bryanston High School, but they learnt a great deal from this experience and grew in confidence. The seniors won their octofinals debate but unfortunately lost to Fourways High School in the quarterfinals of the SACEE championships.

The Gauteng Schools’ Provincial Debating Championships also took place online over September and October. The seniors continued to excel and won five out of six debates in the break rounds, while thejuniors showed some encouraging improvement, winning three out of their six debates. The seniors broke third and thus took part in the final rounds of the championships but unfortunately, the juniors just missed out on the plate break rounds, breaking 17th out of 34 schools. In the final rounds, the seniors won both their quarterfinal debate against King Edward VII School and their semifinal debate against Heronbridge College. They came up against St Mary’s Waverley in the final of the provincial championships and lost a very closely

Debating awards

Half Colours: • Ethan Batista • Ethan Kalell

Full Colours:

• Mohamed Zidan Cassim • Katlego Mokgosi

contested debate. This was an outstanding achievement by a team made up of three Grade 11s and one Grade 10.

The end of the season culminated in the excellent news that Katlego Mokgosi, Ethan Kalell and Ethan Batista have all been selected for the Gauteng Senior debating team.

I would like to take this opportunity to say thank you and goodbye to all those boys who have taken part in debating since I became MIC in 2013. I have learnt a great deal from your knowledge and your brilliant debating skills, and I have enjoyed the many conversations that have taken place during practices; in-between debates; and on the Gautrain going to and from Pretoria. A special thank you to Daniel Lee who joined the debating society in 2013 in his grade 8 year at St David’s and who is now our esteemed coach. Thanks must also go to Ms Baker, Ms Swanepoel and Mrs Zandberg who all gave of their time, energy and enthusiasm to help ensure that the debating society at St David’s continues to thrive.

Mrs K Carlisle MIC: Debating

Debating team