New Zealand Schools’ Debating

Below is the timetable for Nationals 2010! If you are in Wellington next weekend, feel free to come and watch.

Friday 06 August

6:00 pm            Opening of the New Zealand Finals. Briefing for all teams.

6:30 pm            Limited preparation debate

Saturday 07 August

8:00 am            Breakfast at Rutherford House, Victoria University of Wellington, corner     of  Lambton Quay and Bunny S

8:30 am            Topic for Round 1 announced (one hour preparation).

           Theme: Privatisation

9:30 am            Round 1

11:00 am           Morning tea.

11:30 am           Topic for Round 2 announced (one hour preparation).

                        Theme: The European Union

12:30 pm           Round 2

1:45 pm            Lunch

2:30 pm            Topic for Round 3 announced (one hour preparation).

3:30 pm            Round 3

5:00 pm            Return to Ibis Hotel.

7:00 pm            Quiz and pizza night for competitors at Rutherford House.

9:30 pm            Competitors return to Ibis Hotel.

Sunday 08 August

8:30 am            Breakfast

9:00 am            Topic for Round 4 announced (one hour preparation).

10:00 am          Round 4

11:30 am           Lunch

12:30 pm          Topic for Round 5 announced (one hour preparation).

1:30 pm            Round 5.

3:00 pm            Semi-finalists announced, topic for semi-finals announced (one hour preparation).

4:00 pm            Semi-finals.

5:30 pm            Briefing for all teams. Sides for the Grand Final announced.

7:15 pm            Formal Dinner at Zibbibo Restaurant.

Monday 09 August

8.45am             Official photographs of all teams on the front steps of Parliament

10:00 am          GRAND FINAL at Legislative Council Chamber, Parliament Buildings.

11:30 am           Presentation of prizes.

12:00 pm          Morning Tea in the Grand Hall

The Council has appointed Joe Connell as this year’s Nationals Chief Adjudicator.

Joe is a highly experienced schools debating coach and adjudicator. He won the National Champs in 2002 as a member of the CNI Team and coached the CNI Team in 2006 and 2007. He has adjudicated at the Wellington, CNI and Hawke’s Bay Regional tournaments for a number of years and was a highly successful university debater who has been the best speaker at all three major NZ tournaments.

The Council has also appointed Christopher Bishop and Gareth Richards to join Joe as part of the Motions Committee for this year’s tournament.

Christopher is the President of the Schools’ Debating Council and has served on the Nationals Motions Committee for a number of years. He recently adjudicated at the World Schools’ Debating Championships for New Zealand.

Gareth is a former executive officer of the Council, coach of a Wellington regional team, and competitor at Nationals for CNI in 2001. He has adjudicated at numerous regional tournaments in New Zealand as well as at the World University and Australasian Intervarsity Debating Championships.

The New Zealand Schools Debating Council has now opened applications for the following positions for the National Finals of the Russell McVeagh New Zealand Schools’ Debating Championships:

• Chief Adjudicator of the National Finals (1)
• Adjudicators of the National Finals (no set number)
• Motions Committee for the National Finals (3)

Below you will find role descriptions for each of the above three positions.
 
To apply, please send a short debating and/or adjudication CV to the President of the New Zealand Schools’ Debating Council (president@debating.org.nz) by 5pm on Friday June 11. Appointments will be made early the following week.
 
Please pass this message on to all who might be interested.
 
Chief Adjudicator
 
The Chief Adjudicator heads the Motions Committee for Nationals (explained below). They also advise the Council on the appointment of adjudicators for Nationals. During the weekend the Chief Adjudicator is responsible for the allocation of adjudicators to debates (preliminary rounds, semi-finals and Grand Final) and the running of the draw. The Chief Adjudicator is also head of the panel which selects the Russell McVeagh New Zealand Schools’ Debating Team.
 
The Chief Adjudicator obviously must be available to be at Nationals in Wellington from 6 to 9 August. The Council will meet the flight and accommodation costs of the Chief Adjudicator should they hail from outside Wellington.
 
Adjudicators

We are also looking for adjudicators for Nationals. If you:

• are experienced at judging schools’ debates;
• can deliver articulate oral adjudications;
• command respect as an adjudicator; and
• are available to be in Wellington from Friday 6 to Monday 9 August;

Then we’d love to hear from you. Judges from outside of Wellington will have their flight and accommodation costs covered by the Council.

Motions Committee

The Motions Committee consists of the Chief Adjudicator and two other persons. The Committee decides all the motions used at Nationals.

To apply for any or all of the above positions, please send a short debating and/or adjudication CV to the President of the New Zealand Schools’ Debating Council (president@debating.org.nz) by 5pm on Friday June 11. Appointments will be made early the following week.

Photos taken during the national finals of the 2009 Russell McVeagh NZ Schools’ Debating Championships (August 7-10) are now available online.

If you would like to receive high resolution electronic copies of any of these photos please request these from Christopher Foulkes by email. If you would like a hard copy of these photos, these can be purchased from Stephen A’Court, Stephen A’Court Photography, phone 04 381 0304 or 027 446 0077 or email photo.boy@clear.net.nz

Here’s a link to a great article in the Dominion Post on Wednesday 12 August about the three Wellingtonians named in the New Zealand Schools’ Debating Team at Nationals.

The article is also available on Stuff here.

Wellington Black defeated Wellington Gold in the Grand Final this morning, in an unanimous decision.

Here are the full list of results from Nationals 2009.

Winners: Wellington Black
Carlos Bowkett
Maria English
Jodie O’Neil

Runners-Up: Wellington Gold
Nick Cross
Julia Wells
Jasmin Moran

Highly Commended speakers:
Tom O’Brien (Canterbury Black)
Jodie O’Neil (Wellington Black)
Kurt Purdon (Otago/Southland)

Rosemary Dixon Cup for the Most Promising Speaker at the 2009 National Championships:
Cameron Price (Hawke’s Bay)

Reserves to the NZ Schools Debating Team:
Corinne Marti (Northland)
Rory Nolan (Auckland Blue)

2009 Russell McVeagh New Zealand Schools’ Debating Team:
Maria English (Wellington Black)
Nick Cross (Wellington Gold)
Josh Baxter (Auckland Blue)
Aria Newfield (Auckland White)
Jasmin Moran (Wellington Gold)

Russell McVeagh Cup for the Best Speaker at the 2009 National Championships:
Maria English

Andrew Stockley Cup for the Captain of the 2009 Russell McVeagh New Zealand Schools’ Debating Team:
Maria English

Wellington Black will debate Wellington Gold in the Grand Final of the New Zealand Schools’ Debating Champs, starting in just over half an hour.

Both teams defeated teams from Auckland in the semi-finals yesterday afternoon.

The motion for the final is: This House supports binding citizens initiated referenda.

Results will be posted here this afternoon.

Top  of the tab are Auckland White and Wellington Gold on three wins from three. Just behind them are Auckland Blue, Wellington Black, CNI, and Otago/Southland on two wins. On one win is Waikato, Hawke’s Bay, Canterbury Black, and Northland. On zero wins is Nelson/Marlborough and Canterbury Red.

The topic for round one was: This House would means-test superannuation

The topic for round two was: This House would abolish trial by jury

The topic for round three was: This House supports global nuclear disarmament

The teams have just been debating in round four on the topic: This House would prevent skilled migrants emigrating from the developing world to the developed world.

Auckland White saw Wellington Gold in a top of the table clash. Wellington Black saw CNI, Otago-Southland saw Auckland Blue, Hawke’s Bay saw Northland, Canty Black saw Waikato, and Nelson/Marlborough saw Canty Red.

Results will be posted when they are to hand.

The National Finals of the New Zealand Schools’ Debating Champs are this coming weekend (Friday 7 to Monday August 10). Here is the timetable below for those who would like to come and watch. All the preliminary debates, including the semi-finals, will take place at Rutherford House, Victoria University of Wellington (Corner Lambton Quay and Bunny St).

Saturday August 8

8am – breakfast for all teams
8.30am – topic for round one announced
9.30am – round one (advised topic area – Superannuation)
11am – morning tea
11.30am – topic for round two announced
12.30pm – round two (advised topic area – Judicial Reform)
1.45pm – lunch
2.30pm – topic for round three announced
3.30pm – round three

Sunday August 9

8.30am – breakfast for all teams
9am – topic for round four announced
10am – round four
11.30am – lunch
12.30pm – topic for round five announced
1.30pm – round five
3pm – semi-finalists announced; topic for the semis announced
4pm – semi-finals
5.30pm – briefing for all teams; sides for the Grand Final announced.

Monday August 10

10am – Grand Final at Legislative Council Chamber, Parliament
11.15 – speeches from the floor
11.45am – presentation of prizes
12pm – morning tea

If you would like to come and watch the Grand Final, please email Jenna Raeburn (Nationals Convenor) this week. For all other debates, just turn up at the appropriate time.

On Monday 11 May the Prime Minister of New Zealand, Hon John Key, hosted a reception in the Grand Hall of the New Zealand Parliament to congratulate the world champion Russell McVeagh New Zealand Schools’ Debating Team.

Update: Photos from this event are now available in the photo gallery.

The speeches from the event were videoed and you can see them by clicking here or at the bottom of this post. The Prime Minister speaks first, followed by Maria English (Captain of the NZ team), Tim Clarke (Partner at Russell McVeagh), and Christopher Bishop, the President of the New Zealand Schools’ Debating Council.

Also present were the Minister of Education, Hon Anne Tolley, the Attorney-General, Hon Christopher Finlayson, the Minister of Revenue, Hon Peter Dunne, and Jacinda Ardern MP (a New Zealand Schools’ Debating Council alumna), along with proud family and friends.