Wednesday evening was our final round of debating heats for the Coomera Alliance Debating competition. This was the second debating opportunity for our Team B groups which meant they could reflect and act on the feedback they received in their Week 4 debate. The improvement in confidence was impressive.

Our Year 4's came up against Coomera Springs, successfully arguing that boxing should be banned. They convinced the audience that boxing is a barbaric sport and had no place in the sporting world. Our Year 5 group actually have two Team B teams in the competition (Team 1 & 2) just to make it a little confusing. Their topic this week was that 'Honesty is the best policy.' While Team 1 argued that a little white lie never hurt anyone, Team B argued for the topic, explaining how one small lie can lead to a tangled web of lies that reflects poor character. We were up against Norfolk Village and Coomera State School for these two debates and it was our Team 1 that walked away convincing everyone that sometimes honesty is not always the best policy.

Our Year 6's debated against the topic that we should prohibit gambling advertisements arguing that we should always gamble responsibly but it's gambling companies that contribute positively to communities. Coomera State School were a strong team and some great arguments were presented on both sides of this topic but our Year 6 students walked away with another win under their belt.

Next week all 3 of our teams have made it into the grand final. An absolute impressive effort. The challenge is on as our teams only have 6 days to prepare. Here's the draw - where do you sit with these topics?

Year 4
Topic: That teachers can be replaced by computers
Affirmative: Coomera Springs
Negative: Coomera Rivers

Year 5
Topic: That boys have it better than girls
Affirmative: Norfolk Village
Negative: Coomera Rivers

Year 6
Topic: That freedom of speech is a fallacy
Affirmative: Coomera Rivers
Negative: Pimpama State School

Best of luck to our debaters and coaches.