What our students say about Fintona

Debating is challenging. It helps me to logically express my thoughts and builds my confidence.

Katie
Debating Captain

Debating and Public Speaking

The power of persuasion

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Debating

Debating is one of the exciting and popular extracurricular activities offered at Fintona. The students may be involved in a variety of ways. There is a Junior and Senior Inter-house competition available to girls in Years 7 to 12. Girls from Years 9 to 12 may compete in the Debaters Association of Victoria (DAV) Inter-school competition, which involves debates against peers from many other schools. There are five rounds in this competition so there are a number of opportunities to debate. In Years 7 and 8, girls also have the opportunity to participate in the DAV Junior Secondary Program which is preparation for the competition in Year 9.

In addition to this, some Year 12 students participate in the Viewpoint Economics debating competition at Monash University usually with outstanding success, recently reaching the quarter finals. Three girls from the Year 12 Legal Studies class attended a national and international High School Mooting Competition (a mock court debate) at the Magistrate's Court in Melbourne. Unlike other debates they are interrogated by the judge and this requires additional skills to normal debating. It is an annual event with approximately one hundred schools participating. Some of our students have also participated in the U Thant United Nations Debating Trophy where girls represent a particular country in a mock United Nations style debate.

Debating encourages the students to work co-operatively in teams. It develops their public speaking skills and challenges them to think quickly and respond to arguments. The benefits are evident in many areas of the curriculum. The ability to construct and defend an argument, support their opinion with evidence and express themselves with clarity and conviction is a necessary and vital skill.

Public Speaking

The Elizabeth M Butt Public Speaking program

Imagine you are on a hot air balloon travelling with four others, making your way to appear at what might be the most important moment of your career. Perhaps you are Abraham Lincoln about to deliver the Gettysburg address. Or you are Nancy Wake on her way to a secluded forest in France, ready to parachute into the stronghold of the French resistance. Then imagine how you would feel if the pilot suddenly informed all passengers that air was leaking, and that only one person could remain on board? What would you do?

Welcome to the Great Balloon Debate, a famous event in Fintona's internal public speaking competition, the Elizabeth M. Butt Public Speaking Competition.

Now in its eighteenth year, every student from Years 6 to 11 is required to participate in our internal Elizabeth M. Butt Public Speaking program. Embedded in the English curriculum, the public speaking component enacts the original vision of Miss Butt, Headmistress from1963 to 1992, who felt that Fintona girls should be equipped with the skills to communicate with poise and confidence when they take their place in community life. The program is staged progressively in three tiers, from an informative speech in Years 6 and 7, to a persuasive speech in Years 8 and 9, then an interpretive speech in Years 10 and 11. In class, each girl researches her topic and presents her speech. The class then votes as to which two students will proceed to the second round, where they perform in assembly. At that assembly, adjudicators decide which girls from each year level will compete in the Final, held in September.

In 2009, the topic for students from Years 6 and 7 is 'What I Love'. Not only must the girls discuss what is meaningful in their lives, but they must also connect their passion to a wider social concern. Girls in Years 8 and 9 will contest their place on the balloon as part of our now famous Great Balloon Debate. Then in Years 10 and 11, students will interpret a quotation. In 2008, that quotation came from Anatole France, To imagine is everything; to know is nothing at all.

The Elizabeth M. Butt public speaking program is a lively and recognisable aspect of the School's personality. Students leave the School at the end of Year 12 possessing distinctive oratory skills and the strong voice required to carve an identity in their lives.

External public speaking

Students in the different year levels are welcome to enter a variety of external public speaking competitions. Each has different criteria with many requiring contestants to perform an impromptu, as well as a prepared speech. Fintona has enjoyed success in many of these competitions in the past few years. We have participated in such events as:

• VCAA Plain English public speaking
• Rotary Balwyn Four-Way-Test competition
• Rotary Richmond Ainger competition
• Legacy Junior Public Speaking competition
• Rostrum Voice of Youth