Category Archives: Admin

WSU Student Service Award

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The WSU Service Award is open to any senior students who judge debates in the Wellington Intercollegiate Debating Competition and tournaments.  Judging debates improves debating skills as it gives the debater a different perspective on how to win a debate and what an adjudicator looks for.
This award recognises those students who are committed to debating and who volunteer their time judging debates in a given year.   There are three levels of award:
  • Gold Award for judging five debates
  • Silver Award for judging four debates
  • Bronze Award for judging three debates.
To qualify for an award, students should download the following form and take it along to each debate they judge,  fill in the details, and have both the coaches sign it. When they’ve judged as many as they are going to, they then photograph or scan the form and email to Julia Wells, President, WSU at
[email protected] by 1 August 2017.
The awards will be presented at the grade finals.
Click to download the WSU Service Award Form 

Wellington Regionals 2014

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Dear all
​
Congratulations to these eight teams who have broken at Wellington Regionals 2014:
Hutt Valley High School
Wellington Girls’ College B
Wellington College B
St Patrick’s College Town A
Wellington Girls’ College A
Kapiti College A
Scot’s College A
St Patrick’s College Silverstream
Commiserations to Wellington High School A, who ended on 3 wins, but narrowly missed out on win points.
The quarter finals are tomorrow morning, back at Hutt Valley High School. Please be there at 9.15am sharp, so that we can start on time.
​
In addition to these eight teams, we would like to see the following speakers back for a callback debate. The speakers are in contention for the Wellington team, and we really would like to see the speakers. If you cannot attend, please contact us immediately.
Shakked Noy – Wellington High Schools B
Sabina – Wellington Girls’ College B
Liam Denis – Hutt International Boys Schools
Peter – Scot’s College B
Jack Comer-Hudson – Wellington High School A
George – Wellington College
Alex – Wellington College A
Ella – St Catherine’s College B
​
We’re very excited about the strength of this year’s Wellington squad, and hope to see you all tomorrow. If you have not broken, but would still like to debate, we would love to see you there.
If there are any issues, please contact either Steve on 021 881 411, or Daniel on 027 442 7598. Alternatively you can email Daniel at [email protected]

2014 Adjudicator Workshop

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Last night, the Wellington Speaking Union hosted a workshop for new and returning adjudicators in the Wellington region. It was a very successful night, and thanks to all those who attended. A special thanks to Kathy Ryan for hosting us and putting on a spread, and to Chris Bishop for running the workshop.

 

Chris has made available his presentation from last night, and you can find it here: WSU Adjudication Workshop 2014.

 

We look forward to seeing as many of you as possible next week at the coaching workshop!

Wellington Speaking Union 2014

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Welcome to another year of debating with the Wellington Speaking Union. We are excited for 2014, and hope that you and your students will have a great time across our various competitions.

Your school is warmly invited to enter teams in the 2014 Wellington Speaking Union intercollegiate debating grades. Below is an invitation letter that explains how the grades operate, and how to enter teams.WSU-Invitation-Letter-2014

As per previous years, your school may enter one team in the Senior Premier A grade, one team in the Senior Premier B grade, one team in the Junior Premier grade, three teams in the Senior Certificate grade, and five teams in the Junior Certificate grade. As with last year, the entry form is to be filled out online, and is available at www.wsu.co.nz/signups.

Please note that it is very important to include correct email addresses for all adjudicators and coaches, as this is the primary method of communication. Please fill out the form by Friday 14 February. You will be sent an invoice for the fees later.

Before Friday 21 February you will be emailed a finalised calendar of events (draft copy only enclosed), letters from grade convenors for coaches (including their contact details), draws and topics, and a spreadsheet containing the contact details for every team in every grade, convenors at each school, and a list of adjudicators. This information will be sent electronically to you as the convenor of debating at your school. Draws and letters will also be sent electronically to every team coach. The topics for round one will be enclosed with the grade letters and posted on the website. Here is a draft of the 2014 calendar, which can also be found here    Wellington Speaking Union Calendar – DRAFT 

Key Dates

·         Entries Close: Friday 14 February

·         Draws released: Friday 21  February

·         First rounds begin in the week starting Monday 3 March

Adjudicator and Coaching Workshops
 
As in previous years, we will be running workshops to help new and returning adjudicators and coaches. These evenings are an excellent opportunity to grow your skills as an adjudicator and coach, and also to grow your basic debating skills as well. We would encourage all who will be involved in adjudicating or coaching in 2014 to attend the workshops. More information will be sent our soon, but mark in your calendars:
 
 – Tuesday 18 February – Adjudicator’s Workshop from 6pm. Venue TBA.
 – Tuesday 25 February – Coaching Workhop from 6pm. Venue TBA.
 
We look forward to seeing you there

Inaugural Wellington BP Champs

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On the weekend the Wellington Speaking Union held the inaugural Wellington BP Debating Champs, which will hopefully become an annual fixture. Twelve teams entered the tournament, which was held at Wellington High School. It was great to see a mixture of university debaters, secondary school debaters, and adult debaters all debating in the tournament.

After three rounds, the top four teams contested the final: Asher Emanuel & Jodie O’Neill, Nick Cross & Aric Shakur, Ihaia Tichborne & Tyrone Barugh, and Joe Connell & Cameron Price.

The Grand Final topic was: “This House would implement a statutory discount for sentences decided by judges and juries for criminals from historically oppressed racial minorities.” After a great debate, the Closing Government team – Nick Cross & Aric Shakur – were declared the winners in a 2-1 decision.

The top five speakers of the tournament were:

1. Asher Emanuel
2. Joe Connell
3. Udayan Mukherjee
4. Jodie O’Neill
5= Aric Shakur
5= Cameron Price

Thanks to all who entered, and to Christopher Bishop, Stephen Whittington and Richard D’Ath who acted as judges over the course of the day.

Wellington Speaking Union AGM 2012

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The Wellington Speaking Union AGM for 2012 was held tonight at The VUW Law School. The various reports will be uploaded here soon.

The following people were elected to positions for the 2013 year:

President – Daniel Wilson
Treasurer – Christopher Bishop
Secretary – Ella Edginton

The Union is very pleased to announce Kathy Ryan as the Union’s latest Life Member. Kathy’s contribution to Wellington debating over a period approaching two decades is has been considerable, and the strength of the Region’s debating on the national stage is undoubtedly due in large part to Kathy’s masterful administration of one of the most influential grades run by the Union. The Union would like to reiterate its appreciate for the ongoing work Kathy does for the debaters in Wellington, and their gratitude for her offering of continued service.

The Union thanks Sebastian Templeton for his work as President this year, and his many years of service across many grades of Wellington schools debating. The Union also thanks Nicholas Cross for his work as Treasurer this year.

Senior Premier B Final

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The Grand Final for 2012 will be held on Tuesday 11 September at 6.30pm, in the Council Chambers in the Wellington Town Hall.

Congratulations to Sacred Heart College and Wellington College for making it this far in the competition – all are welcome to come and support them.

Motion: That housewives and househusbands should be paid for their work.

Affirmative Negative

Sacred Heart  College                    Wellington College