As promised we have further news for you this evening, please read this email with care as it contains important information about the first rounds. Forward it to your teams as required please.
In this email we cover:
1. The training evening tomorrow (Tuesday) night for all teachers and students;
2. The training evening Thursday night for new teacher adjudicators in the Junior and Senior Open Grades;
3. Delays to Round One of the Junior and Senior Open Grades;
1. Training Night Tuesday 03 March:
The front page of our website has, since 31 January, advertised a training night for all students and adjudicators on Tuesday 03 March. It has also been a fixture on our calendar since the start of the year. That training night is still on. Details of that event are:
The first week of March is also an important one on the ASD calendar. We will be hosting two evenings for teachers and students to attend. On Tuesday 3 March at the Old Boy's Pavilion at Auckland Grammar at 6pm we will be having a training night for students and teachers with a show debate and how-to-debate session.
Parking is at gate 5 and the OB pavilion is on the left hand side of the car park (it looks out over the cricket/ rugby field)
We hope to see you there.
2. Training Night Thursday 05 March:
The news post 31 January (and our calendar) also made reference to a training night for Teachers and Coaches on Thursday 05 March. That training night is also still on. Details of that event are:
Auckland Schools Debating is hosting its annual Coaches and Adjudication Training Night on Thursday 5th March at 6:00pm at the University of Auckland Business School, Lecture Theatre OGGB 5. There is parking underneath the Business School which can be accessed from Grafton Road, just off Symonds Street, Auckland City Centre. Once you have parked, please make your way up to level 0 using the elevators, and follow the signs to Lecture Theatre OGGB 5.
We would like to welcome all coaches and adjudicators who will be involved in the ASD competition for 2009. Please be ready to ask any questions you may have, and these will be answered during the course of the evening.
The seminar will be hosted by ASD Committee members, as well as Claire Ryan - an extremely experienced international adjudicator and coach. We hope the evening will be informative, and will serve as an introduction to what is expected of coaches and adjudicators during the competition this year.
3. Delays to Junior and Senior Open Grades:
Finally today we have important news regarding the Junior and Senior Open Grades.
The first round of Junior and Senior Open will be pushed back until the scheduled dates for Round Two. That is, Junior Open Round One shall be 23 March, Senior Open Round One will be 24 March.
Each consecutive Round will also be pushed back to the dates for the following Round, leading to Round Five taking the place of the advertised "Catch Up Round". We will announce a new Catch Up Round date in due course.
The Committee has still been receiving entries, amendments and alterations today. If we run the first round as previously scheduled (Monday 10 March and Tuesday 11 March) we would need to refuse entry to a significant number of teams. Further, even of teams entered, there is uncertainty around a number of attached coaches, speakers and adjudicators. We are concerned that this may result in defaults or confusion for teams and speakers. We feel the delay will allow all schools, coaches and teams more time to prepare for the debates and will result in a higher standard for the competition as a whole.
We hope you understand the reasons for this change and that it makes the start of the year less stressful for many of you. The decision was not made lightly. Please note:
- The other grades (Advanced Open, Premier Junior, Premier Advanced) will not be delayed or changed.
- The moots (announced last night) via email and on our website, will remain as they are.
- The draw itself will be posted by the start of school next Monday 10 March, giving all teams a full two weeks to prepare.
We apologize if there was any confusion about the dates of the training seminars, we hoped the early notice on our website would allow you to keep the evenings free.
Any questions, please email us or call us on 027 766 2933
Round One Moots:
Moots:
Junior Open: This house would make school uniforms compulsory.
Senior Open: This house supports xenotransplantation.
Advanced Open (Advised Topic): Moot will deal with 'Maori political representation'.
Premier Junior (Advised Topic): Moot will deal with 'the minimum wage'.
Premier Advanced (Advised Topic): Moot will deal with 'cultural treasures'.
Junior Open: This house would make school uniforms compulsory.
Senior Open: This house supports xenotransplantation.
Advanced Open (Advised Topic): Moot will deal with 'Maori political representation'.
Premier Junior (Advised Topic): Moot will deal with 'the minimum wage'.
Premier Advanced (Advised Topic): Moot will deal with 'cultural treasures'.
ASD Committee
