Premier's Debating Challenge for Years 5 and 6
Open to NSW public school students, this age division culminates in a 3-day championship camp that includes workshops with some of the state's most experienced adjudicators.
Latest news
After a little over 2,000 debates between just over 1,000 teams from all over NSW, the zones have been decided and around 225 lucky (and skilful!) teams are into the knockout regional finals. Those finals will continue until a team is named the regioanl champion, and then those champions will meet at a 3-night tournament north of Wollongong to decide the 2024 state champs. You can see the information on how that state tournament works in the 2024 Years 5 and 6 State Debating Championships Information (PDF 479.15 KB), and you can check out all the teams and how they fared across the competition here. We'll note the regional finalists and champions below as they're decided.
| Region | Final teams |
|---|---|
| Hunter/Central Coast | New Lambton South Public Brainstorms v TBC |
| Illawarra and South East | Bowral Public Debateinators v TBC |
| New England | Armidale City Public Blues def. The Sir Henry Parkes Memorial Public Comets |
| North Coast | Laurieton Public Lorikeets def. Bangalow Public Green |
| Northern Sydney | West Pennant Hills Public Blue v Beecroft Public Year 6 |
| Riverina | Wentworth Public Kookaburras def. Sturt Public Squirrels |
| South Western Sydney | Marsden Road Public Legends v TBC |
| Sydney | Bellevue Hill Public White v TBC |
| Western NSW | Bathurst West Public Reds def. Dubbo Public Rhinos |
| Western Sydney | Matthew Pearce Public Rams v Hazelbrook Public Team Hazo |
Primary debating workshops
We've wrapped up the 2024 workshops program with 3,486 primary school students attending a full day of training at one of the 48 events that ran all over NSW. Cheers to all the parents and teachers who helped make the workshops happen by transporting their kids all around the state and a particular thanks to those 48 host schools without whom we couldn't run in-person workshops like these. We'll leave the calendar and information PDFs below for a little while so you can get a sense of how things work and hopefully plan to be part of an even bigger 2025 program. Best of luck to all the schools who attended as they turn their attention to the Premier's Debating Challenge!
| Region and information | Dates |
|---|---|
| North Coast Primary Debating Workshops (PDF 337.71 KB) | Monday 19 to Friday 23 February |
| Riverina Primary Debating Workshops (PDF 349.14 KB) | Monday 26 February to Friday 1 March |
| South Western Sydney Primary Debating Workshops (PDF 337.76 KB) | Monday 4 to Thursday 7 March |
| Hunter Central Coast Primary Debating Workshops (PDF 345.42 KB) | Monday 11 March to Thursday 4 April |
| Illawarra & South East Primary Debating Workshops (PDF 330.45 KB) | Monday 8 to Friday 12 April |
| Western Sydney Primary Debating Workshops (PDF 472.72 KB) | Tuesday 30 April to Friday 3 May |
| New England Primary Debating Workshops (PDF 482.75 KB | Tuesday 7 to Friday 10 May |
| Sydney Primary Debating Workshops (PDF 566.25 KB) | Monday 13 to Friday 17 May |
| Northern Sydney Primary Debating Workshops (PDF 511.81 KB) | Monday 20 to Friday 24 May |
| Western NSW Primary Debating Workshops (PDF 566.17 KB) | Wednesday 29 to Friday 31 May |
About the competition
The Years 5 and 6 competition is the largest of the age divisions in the Premier's Debating Challenge. It began in 1995 when the Hunter region issued a challenge to the other regions of NSW to send their best primary school team to a championships in Newcastle, which is why to this day the state champion is awarded the Hunter Challenge Trophy.
Format of the competition
Teams compete in a series of one-hour unassisted preparation debates, meaning that the 4 team members of the team only find out the topic one hour before the debate, and are then given an hour without any assistance to prepare their case. Teams will be organised into zones of six or more. Each team will complete 4 debates against other teams from their zone at times and dates that suit the schools involved. Zone debates will occur from the start of Term 2 until mid-Term 3.
Once those 4 rounds are completed the team(s) with the best record will be declared zone champions and will compete in a regional knockout finals series. Following that, the 10 regional champions will attend a 3-day championships tournament at Stanwell Tops to determine the state champion. The championships will run in mid-November.
Watch the state finals
Watch the Primary Schools State Debating Championships finals
Enquiries
Attachments
The 2024 Premier's Debating Challenge Years 5 and 6 is proudly supported by ACCO Brands Australia.
All Arts Unit programs are inclusive. If support is required to participate in the Premier's Debating Challenge for Years 5 and 6, please email Justine.clarke@det.nsw.edu.au so that we can assist.
