History Debaters make Grand Final of Inter-School Debating Competition!

Last Thursday, our Year 10 History Debating team of Ben Adams (10/FL), Sean Hatten (10/ME), Sebastian Rees (10/PR) and Sam Wallace (10/MO) (pictured above) won their Semi-Final against St. Paul’s Grammar of Penrith in this year’s Inter-School History Debating Competition. The boys successfully negated the proposition that “Australia played a crucial role in the Pacific War.” The debate was fiercely contested with both teams displaying exceptional knowledge of the subject area. The St. Paul’s Grammar team showed why they had defeated Knox, Barker and Roseville College on their way to the Semi-Final gaining full marks for debating manner for all three of their speakers. Fortunately, so too did the Newington boys, eventually winning the debate on their stronger ability to persuade the adjudicator and their deeper knowledge gained from wider research. The team will now proceed to the Grand Final early next term which will be contested against either Tara or Loreto Normanhurst (Semi-Final takes place this week). Reaching the Grand Final is an excellent achievement for Newington considering it is a state wide competition which we have entered for the first time this year. Stay tuned for Grand Final details in the coming weeks.

Mr Mark Scali
History Department

Pierre de Coubertin Award

Congratulations to Sean Towers (12/MO) who has been a recipient of the 2012 Pierre de Coubertin Award. The award, named after the founder of the modern Olympics Pierre de Coubertin, recognises the excellence of students across different categories of sport, academia and leadership. Congratulations Sean!

Sean is pictured above with Olympian James Chapman (ON ’97).

Year 7 Photographer Exhibited in Hyde Park

Harry Carr (7/ME) has been selected as a finalist in the Art and About little lives photography competition. To read more about the competition click here, or check out Harry’s wonderful work, entitled Bondi to Bronte, between Friday 21 September and Sunday 21 October in Sandringham Gardens, Hyde Park!