Debating team the Karaoke Southies have taken home the title of zone champions.
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With four wins and zero losses, Goulburn South Public School were the only team to win all four rounds of the zone debating competition.
Goulburn South Public School debating coordinator Cara Robinson said she was very proud of the team's achievements.
Ms Robinson said for the past year and a half staff at the school had been collaborating to develop a school-wide focus on improving oral language skills.
"Results like our debating success are in large part due to this," she said.
On Friday, August 12 the Karaoke Southies faced off against the Collector Public School Correctors, debating the topic, 'that students in Years 5 and 6 should learn life skills, like cooking, cleaning and sewing, at school'.
Regular first speaker, Kelsey Seaman, could not join the team for the first two debates, so year five student, and talented public speaker, Jordan Breen, subbed in. She was joined by second speaker, Chloe Halls, third speaker, Oscar McLure and fourth speaker, Ruby Hill.
The coin toss made the Southies the affirmative team for the debate.
Debate adjudicator, Julian Davies, said it was a very close debate, and that both teams responded well to each others' arguments. He went on to say that the arguments presented by the Southies were a bit more reasonable than those presented by Collector, meaning that the Southies won the debate.
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On Monday, August 15 the team were straight back into it.
This time, the Karaoke Southies battled it out with the Goulburn North Banksia team, delving into the topic, 'that we should never separate girls and boys for school-aged sport'.
The coin toss landed the Southies as the negative for the debate.
The adjudicator for this debate, James Smith, applauded both teams for how sensitively they dealt with a topic he had seen handled poorly before, with members of both teams delicately discussing the implications of this topic for trans and non-binary students as well as students with religious and cultural considerations.
Although both teams presented well-thought-out nuanced arguments, Goulburn South Karaoke Southies were awarded the debate.
The team will now proceed to the knockout finals, debating teams from all around NSW. The first debate of the finals is scheduled to take place on August 31 against Vencentia Public School.
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