2018 School Magazine

DEBATING

These outstanding results, combined with the number of the School’s teams that continued through to the finals, secured Girls Grammar the QDU Championship Schools Trophy. This trophy acknowledges that collectively this year Girls Grammar is the strongest debating school in the QDU competition. Later in the year, eight students competed in the Australian Individual Debating and Public Speaking Championships. Coached by Head Girl 2017, Lucinda Duke and Isabella Busby (2016), and adjudicated by Isobel Smith (2016), the girls competed individually against students from around Australia in parliamentary debating, impromptu speaking, persuasive speaking and interpretive reading. Congratulations to Abbey Grice (10E) who competed in the junior section of the competition, placing first in the Debating finals and winning the overall Speakfest (Year 10 competition) Australian Championship Trophy. Mrs Anne Byrne DEBATING COORDINATOR

This year has been an exciting and successful year for Girls Grammar Debating. Thirty-two teams competed in the Queensland Debating Union (QDU) competition, with 17 teams advancing to the finals. Five teams (one from Years 8, 9, 10, 12 and Senior A) remained successful in the weekly knockout format until the semi-finals. Two teams, one from Year 8 and the other from Year 10, earned a place in the Grand Final. The Year 8 team, comprising Anna Butler (8G), Sally Grice (8E), Cristiana Salmon (8H), Ella Sinclair (8G) and Stella Woodford (8M) were runners-up against All Hallows’ School off a split decision. The girls were debating that we should follow our dreams rather than settling for a well-paying career. The Year 10 debaters, comprising Tiarne Graves (10L), Sasha McCormack (10M), Stephanie Khan (10G) and Annaka Tong- Law (10M), challenged Anglican Church Grammar School to defend their proposal for direct democracy allowing for public submissions for legislation. After a robust exchange of ideas and rebuttals Girls Grammar’s team was awarded a unanimous win. This year, 20 Year 11 students from Brisbane Girls Grammar School and Brisbane Grammar School competed in the Ecoman (Economics and Management) Competition. This program allowed students to develop further their business and accounting skills as we formed teams and ran simulated businesses. The objective of the competition was to turn around a company suffering from severe debt, low productivity and a decreasing market. The team that generated the highest share price at the end of the three days would win the competition. Each member of the team was assigned a specific role as either managing director or head of marketing, production, finance or human resources. Over the three days, each company made a range of decisions in the changing market environment. I found this experience extremely rewarding as it enhanced my understanding of the importance of making business decisions in relation to money allocation and improved my entrepreneurial skills. Penelope Sophios (11W)

ECOMAN

BRISBANE GIRLS GRAMMAR SCHOOL 2018 | CO-CURRICULUM | 095