Dear Parents, Teachers and Students,

I am the 2026 Loyola Public Speaking & Debating Captain, Joshua Buckley.

Public Speaking & Debating is an integral life skill which is important for many careers and opportunities, and the Loyola program offers many different programs to help flourish these skills.

With the commencement of term 2, we have had the startup of our annual House Public Speaking competition, leaving many House points up for grabs towards the ultimate prize, the House shield.

Furthermore, we've recently had two senior teams competing in the annual Ethics Olympiad, which is a global competition where teams come together to discuss set topics, justifying their ethical responses to set problems. This year, Loyola placed well enough to receive honourable mentions for their contributions in the competition.

We have also had the continuation of our ACS Debating going along in the background of Loyola's busy schedule, with our A Grade team remaining undefeated and our other teams also proudly representing the school's debating capabilities.

Now some upcoming events.

As we near the end of term 2, the now bi-annual JACSA debating competition is drawing near. One team of Loyola's best debaters will be flying over to Saint Ignatius College Riverview in Sydney to compete with 4 other Ignatian schools, (Saint Ignatius Adelaide, Saint Aloysius College, Xavier College) across Australia, and some of the best High School debaters the country has. Trials for the team start Thursday 28/06.

Term 3 also marks the commencement of our annual House Debating competition, similarly, leaving many House points up in the air towards the House shield.

Now, keep your eyes on the school LMS as there is always new initiatives coming and going to provide opportunities for students to hone their Public Speaking & Debating skills such as:

• Parliament Prize
• Parliamentary Convention
• Xavier Junior Debating Night
• ACS Finals
• JACSA developments

Kind regards,

Joshua Buckley (12/TJBE)

Student of the Fortnight:

Eva Zuzic has been an invaluable member of the Public Speaking & Debating club throughout her time at Loyola college, and this truly came into fruition during our annual Ethics Olympiad.

When the team was proposed with a question none of us had an answer for, Eva relied on her own personal, lived experience, to provide an answer when none of us could, still keeping us competitive throughout the competition.

Eva Zuzic (11/TRLP)