St Laurence’s School has won the R H Lytton Inter-school Orator’s Shield after public speaking and debating competitions.
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Students from St Laurence’s and Forbes North tackled the tough topic of whether there should be age limits on online games in the final of the debating competition.
Forbes North had won the first-round debate against Forbes Public School for the right to meet St Laurence’s, the host school, in the finals.
In the finals, St Laurence’s argued in the affirmative and Forbes North in the negative.
Adjudicators Marie Hollstein and Kathy Garland had a difficult task, commending all the debaters for the way they spoke and their ability to address the other team’s points.
“It was a good topic, and you did your research,” Mrs Hollstein said.
“Overall it was brilliantly done.”
The adjudicators said the points were very close, giving first place to St Laurence’s.
The finals of the public speaking competition were also held at St Laurence’s this week, with two speakers from each school.
Gabriella Pereira won first place in the Stage 2 competition, her topic was “If I was a character in a book, I would be ...”
In second place was Abbey Browne from Forbes Public School whose topic was, “If I ruled the world” and in third was Stephanie Vinthien from Forbes Public School who spoke on “The zoo is the best place”.
In Stage 3 competition, Andie Hodder from Forbes Public School claimed first place with her speech “A day in the life of a fly”.
St Laurence’s Alice Paul placed second speaking on “Advertising influences our food choices” and St Laurence’s Annie O’Connor placed third with “Does watching violent TV programs make a child think violence is acceptable”.
With points awarded for each speaker and the debate, the competition between the three schools was very close but at the end of the day the RH Lytton Shield was won by St Laurence’s Catholic School.
The school has a long history of success in the orator’s competition.
The Shield is named in honour of former Forbes Public School principal Bob Lytton, who championed the benefits of public speaking.
It was established in the late 1980s, and the late Mr Lytton loved watching and compering the annual competition which did historically include the district’s small schools.
