Impromptu Cup 2014

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The Wellington Speaking Union Impromptu Cup for senior and junior students was held on Sunday 15 June at Wellington Girls’ College. It was a great day of debating.

Twelve teams entered the Senior section – the largest number that has ever entered the competition. After four rounds of debating, the Grand Final featured Hutt Valley High School against Hutt International Boys School. Eventually HVHS were the winners in an unanimous decision, after successfully negating the motion This house would ban negative advertisements in political campaigns.

Congrats to Ned Grenfell and Austin Sutherland who win the IMPS Trophy, and commiserations to Liam Denis and Alisdair Armstrong.

Nine teams entered Junior section. The Grand Final was between Wellington College and St Mary’s, with Wellington College eventually prevailing after affirming This house would legalise voluntary euthanasia.

Congrats to Andy and Michael and who win the Evening Post Cup.

Congratulations to Liam Denis from HIBS, who was best speaker for the tournament, and to Andy from Wellington College who was best speaker in the Junior grade.

Thanks to all those who judged during the tournament, and to Wellington Girls’ College for hosting.

Junior Prem results for Round One

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The team in bold won their first round debate.
Well done to all the speakers!

Round One
Affirmative                          Negative

Wellington High          St Catherine’s
Wellington Girls’            Queen Margaret
St Bernard’s                   Hutt International
St Oran’s                      Heretaunga
Scots College             Wellington College
Kapiti College             St Patrick’s Stream
Sacred Heart                Taita College
St Patrick’s Town           Wellington East
Bishop Viard                 Tawa College
Samuel Marsden       Onslow College
Hutt Valley High             BYE

Round Two

Results received so far – winning teams in bold (if there is no team in bold, the result for that debate has not yet been submitted):

Affirmative                          Negative

St Catherine’s                 Wellington Girls’
Queen Margaret                Scots College
Hutt International          St Oran’s
Heretaunga                     St Patrick’s Stream
Wellington College           Samuel Marsden
Sacred Heart                  St Bernard’s
Taita College                    Hutt Valley High
Wellington East                Bishop Viard
Tawa College                Kapiti College
Onslow College           St Patrick’s Town
Wellington High               BYE

Good luck to all teams and coaches for Round Three on Wednesday, May 21st. Get those results in asap!!

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]

Junior Certificate Debating 2014 – First Debate

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Hi 2014 Junior Certificate Debaters

By now most of you will have had your first debate – and we hoped you had fun with the motion – that NZ should ban domestic cats.

The team who won the debate needs to remember to upload the results at http://new.wsu.co.nz/resources/results

There are a number of teams who for some reason or other have postponed their debates.     It is better to postpone rather than default BUT you can only do this for the fully prepared debates – as the Limited Prep and impromptu debates MUST be done on the day.   All postponed debates must be completed within the week.

Junior Certificate Dates 2014
Round One Wed 5 March Full Preparation
Round Two Wed 2 April Full Preparation
Round Three Wed 14 May Limited  Preparation
Round Four Wed 4 June Impromptu
Round Five Wed 25 June Limited  Preparation
Octo-finals Wed 30 July To be advised
Quarter Finals Wed 20 August To be advised
Semi Finals Wed 3 September To be advised
Grand Finals Wed 17 September Full Preparation

If you need to contact me about any debating issue regarding junior certificate – please do at [email protected]

Cheers

Nicola

 

 

2014 Coaching Workshop

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Last night, the Wellington Speaking Union hosted a workshop for new and returning coaches in the Wellington region. It was a very successful night, and thanks to all those who attended. A special thanks to Sarah Wilson and Nicola McFaull for hosting us, and to Chris Bishop and Stephen Whittington for running the workshop.

 

Chris and Steve have made available their presentation from last night, and you can find it here: The Wellington Speaking Union Coaching Guide

 

Watch out for more information about coaching and adjudication workshops later in the year.

Senior Prem B Draw for Round One

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The draw for round one of Senior Prem B is available – this includes the motion, the side you will be debating, who is against whom,  the time and date. The venue is still to be confirmed.

Have fun preparing this motion and good luck to all!. See you all on Tuesday the 11th.

Round One

Date and time: Tuesday 11 March, 7 pm start (so be there 10 mins early)
Venue: Wellington East Girls’ College
Topic: “That NZ should ban films which fail the Bechdel test.”

Affirming the motion

Negating the motion
Nga Tawa 1 Wellington Girls’ College
Scots College Onslow
Wellington East Wellington College
Kapiti College Marsden
Paraparaumu College Chilton
Bishop Viard College Wellington High School
Sacred Heart St Pats Town
Taita College Heretaunga
Queen Margaret College Tawa College
St Mary’s College St Pats Silverstream
Hutt Valley High School HIBS
St Cath’s College Nga Tawa 2

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

Senior Premier A 2014

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Grand Final information:
Congratulations to Wellington Girls’ College and St Patrick’s College Kilbirnie for making the Grand Final​​ of Premier A for 2014. 
 
The Grand Final will be held on Tuesday 2 September, in the Banquet Hall of Parliament. The debate will start at 7pm sharp, with doors open from 6.30pm.
 
The motion for the Grand Final is: This house supports the partition of Iraq into 3 states for the Kurdish, Sunni, and Shia peoples. St Patrick’s College will affirm, Wellington Girls’ College will negate.

All are encouraged to attend the final to support their favourite team, and watch what promises to be a top-quality debate. Anyone in the Wellington region who has an interest in attending this final are welcome to attend. Please forward this invitation on to all those you believe might be interested. 

For security purposes, all attendees need to submit their names to me by Monday 1 September in order to be allowed into Parliament. Please email me at [email protected] the names of attendees so that I can ensure they will have access to the final.

We look forward to seeing you all there.

 

 

Points table:

 

Team Round 1 Round 2 Round 3 Round 4 Round 5 Total
Scots College 1 1 1 1 1 5
Hutt International Boys’ School 1 0 1 1 1 4
St Patricks College Town 1 0 1 1 0 3
Wellington High school 1 1 1 0 0 3
Wellington East Girls’ College 0 1 1 1 0 3
Wellington Girls’ College 1 1 0 0 1 3
Wellington College 1 0 0 1 1 3
St. Bernard’s College 0 1 1 0 1 3
St Mary’s College 1 1 0 0 0 2
St Oran’s College 0 0 1 1 0 2
St Pats Silverstream 0 1 0 1 0 2
Hutt Valley High School 1 0 0 0 1 2
St Catherine’s College 0 1 0 0 1 2
Queen Margaret College 0 0 0 1 0 1
Sacred Heart College 0 0 1 0 0 1

 

Senior Premier B 2014

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GRAND FINALS

 

Moot: This house would legalise commercial surrogacy

Venue: Wellington City Council Chambers (101 Wakefield Street)

Date: Tuesday 23rd August at 6:30pm

Affirming the motion

Negating the motion
Wellington East Girls’ College  Kapiti College

All are welcome and invited to come to the final! It promises to be an excellent debate between two very talented teams.

 

_____________________________________________________________________________

Semi Finals

 

Theme: Economics

Affirming the motion

Negating the motion
Kapiti College Wellington Girls’ College
Wellington East Girls’ College Tawa College

_____________________________________________________________________________

Quarter Finals

 

Moot: This house believe that newly democratised Arab nations should not allow religious parties to participate in elections.

Affirming the motion

Negating the motion
Wellington Girls’ Nga Tawa 1
St Mary’s Wellington East
Nga Tawa 2 Tawa College
Heretaunga Kapiti College

This year’s Convenor: Oscar Battell-Wallace

Contact Email Address: [email protected]