For the first time in Newington history, a group of four Year 10 boys (Ben Adams (10/FL), Sean Hatten (10/ME), Sebastian Rees (10/PR), Samuel Wallace (10/MO)) have been involved in a state wide history debating competition.

The competition requires a team to debate three other schools within a group. If all debates are won, the school progresses to the semi-finals. Recently, our team won their last debate of the group stage and thus progressed to the final four schools in the competition.

Along the way, the boys have debated topics such as “Japan never intended to invade Australia during WW2” and “Australia’s involvement in the Vietnam War was a mistake.” Our semi-final opponent has not been decided as yet, but we do know that the other schools that have progressed are Barker, Tara and James Ruse.

The final will take place early in Term 4. The boys should be congratulated on their fine efforts thus far, especially considering that this is the first year Newington has entered this competition. Watch this space for the semi-final result!

Mark Scali
History Department