21 Sep 2018
Students who have been involved in the Debating Program at Jasper Road PS have enjoyed outstanding success over many years. Stage 3 students who are interested in trying out for the Debating Teams attend the Western Sydney Debating Camp at Katoomba in March each year. Trials for two debating teams take place in Term 1 and 10 students are selected from a total of 25-30 who try out each year.
Two teams of 5 students each then participate in the Year 5 and 6 division of the Premier’s Debating Challenge, a comprehensive state-wide competition involving hundreds of teams and thousands of students in both primary and high schools. Western Sydney Region alone is comprised each year of between 85-100 teams. In each debate, the students select their topic and their affirmative / negative status in relation to the topic and receive only one hour of unassisted preparation time with no adult input regarding their ideas and arguments.
The Jasper Road Articulators team has progressed through four round debates, a Quarter Final and a Semi-Final debate to win the Western Sydney Final on five separate occasions, in 2008, 2009, 2013, 2014 and 2016. Each time that the team has won the Western Sydney Regional Final they have attended the Premier’s Debating State Championships at Stanwell Tops Conference Centre in November, competing against the winning schools from the state’s other nine regions.
Jasper Road Public School has won their regional debating final (Western Sydney Region) a greater number of times than any other individual school in NSW has won their regional final and then moved on to the Premiers Debating State Championships to represent their region.
The 2018 Jasper Road PS Articulators Debating Team will participate in a semi-final debate early in Term 4 and will hopefully move on to win a 6th Western Sydney Final!
Paul Marshall
Jasper Road PS Debating Coach
Western Sydney Regional Debating Co-ordinator