New Zealand Schools’ Debating

Thomas Simpson, Rayhan Langdana, Ed Foley, Nick Orr and James Penn (in middle)

The 2011 National Finals of the Russell McVeagh New Zealand Schools’ Debating Championships were held from 27 to 30 May at Victoria University of Wellington.

Twelve regional teams from Northland, Auckland, Waikato, Hawke’s Bay, Central North Island, Wellington, Kahurangi-Marlborough, Canterbury and Otago-Southland took part in the competition. The regional teams comprised the best speakers from the hundreds of debaters who competed at various regional competitions held earlier in the year.

On Saturday and Sunday each team competed in five preliminary round debates at Victoria University’s Pipitea Campus. In the preliminary rounds the teams debated the following topics:

• This House would reintroduce a youth minimum wage
• This House would compel doctors to report suspected cases of domestic violence to the police
• This House believes New Zealand should become a republic
• This House would impose trade sanctions on nations that refuse to take action on climate change
• This House believes the posession of drugs for personal use should not be a crime

After the five preliminary rounds, the top four teams were Waikato (five wins), Auckland Blue (four wins), Wellington Gold (three wins), and Kahurangi-Marlborough (three wins). Sadly, Wellington Black and Auckland White missed out on win points.

The motion for the semi-final was: “This House would offer amnesty to dictators who step down”. Waikato defeated Kahurangi-Marlborough in a 2-1 decision and Auckland Blue defeated Wellington Gold, also in a 2-1 decision, setting up a Waikato v Auckland Grand Final.

The Grand Final was again hosted by Hon. Peter Dunne in the Legislative Council Chamber of Parliament, before distinguished guests His Excellency the Right Honourable Sir Anand Satyanand, Governor-General, Lady Satyanand, Hamish McIntosh, Partner at Russell McVeagh, and an audience of several hundred school students.

The final debate was humorous and passionate. The topic was “That New Zealand needs Don Brash” with Waikato taking the affirmative side and Auckland the negative. After a very close debate, the Waikato team of Christopher Jury, Thomas Simpson, and Kayla Grant were declared the winners in a unanimous decision.

After the Grand Final the members of the 2011 Russell McVeagh New Zealand Schools Debating team were announced. The five member team is made up of Nick Orr (Captain, Auckland Grammar School), Edward Foley (Wellington College), Rayhan Langdana (Wellington College), Thomas Simpson (Hamilton Boys’ High School) and James Penn (Wanganui High School).

The New Zealand Schools’ Debating Council is very grateful to Russell McVeagh for its continued support of New Zealand Schools’ Debating, which allows these Championships to occur. We are also grateful to Victoria University of Wellington who hosted the Championships during the weekend.

Thanks too to everyone who contributed to making the Championships such a memorable weekend – adjudicators, coaches, chairpeople, and many other helpers.

Here are the full list of results from Nationals 2011.

Winners: Waikato
Christopher Jury (Hamilton Boys’ High School)
Thomas Simpson (Hamilton Boys’ High School)
Kayla Grant (Hillcrest High School)
Coach: Josh Baxter

Runners-Up: Auckland Blue
Nick Orr (Auckland Grammar School)
Ishika Jayasinghe (St Cuthbert’s College)
Frederick Thursfield (King’s College)
Coaches: Stephanie Thompson and Glenn Riddell

Highly Commended speakers:
Ishika Jayasinghe (St Cuthbert’s College)
Kayla Grant (Hillcrest High School)
Nick Fenton (Wellington College)

Rosemary Dixon Cup for the Most Promising Speaker:
Christopher Jury (Hamilton Boys’ High School)

Reserves to the 2011 Russell McVeagh New Zealand Schools’ Debating Team:
Kimberley Savill (Nayland College)
Lucy Harrison (Mt Albert Grammar School)

2011 Russell McVeagh New Zealand Schools’ Debating Team:
Edward Foley (Wellington College)
Nick Orr (Auckland Grammar School)
Rayhan Langdana (Wellington College)
Thomas Simpson (Hamilton Boys’ High School)
James Penn (Wanganui High School)

Russell McVeagh Cup for the Best Speaker at the 2011 National Championships:
Thomas Simpson (Hamilton Boys’ High School)

Andrew Stockley Cup for the Captain of the 2011 Russell McVeagh New Zealand Schools’ Debating Team:
Nick Orr (Auckland Grammar School)

The New Zealand Schools’ Debating Council now has a twitter account. Twitter users should follow @nzsdc or non-twitter users can see the updates at www.twitter.com/nzsdc. We’ll be posting round by round results of the National Champs which start tomorrow!

Below is the Nationals 2011 timetable.

CHAMPIONSHIPS TIMETABLE
 
Friday 27 May
12:30-4:30 pm Registration at the Ibis Hotel, 153 Featherston Street, Wellington.
5:30 pm Assemble at Russell McVeagh, Level 24, Mobil on the Park, 157 Lambton Quay.
              Light Meal available from 5:30 to 6:00pm.
6:00 pm Opening of the New Zealand Finals. Briefing for all teams.
6:30 pm Mix and Match debate. Speakers will be put into teams with speakers from other regions for a limited preparation debate.
8:30 pm Return to Ibis Hotel.
 
Saturday 28 May
7.30 am Breakfast at Ibis Hotel
8:30 am Assemble at Rutherford House, Victoria University of Wellington, corner of Lambton Quay and Bunny Street.
             Topic for Round 1 announced (one hour preparation)
9:30 am Round 1
11:00 am Morning tea
11:30 am Topic for Round 2 announced (one hour preparation)
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 29 May
8:00 am Breakfast at Ibis Hotel
9:00 am Assemble at Rutherford House
             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.
              Return to Ibis Hotel
7:15 pm Formal Dinner at Zibibbo Restaurant, Old Police Station Building, Taranaki Street
 
Monday 30 May
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 Refreshments at Grand Hall, Parliament Buildings

The Nationals Grand Final topic is:

That New Zealand needs Don Brash

The Grand Final will be held at 10.00am on Monday 30 May in the Legislative Council Chamber of Parliament in Wellington. If you would like to come and watch, please contact the convenors.

Clodagh O’Connor-McKenna has been appointed as the Chief Adjudicator for this year’s National Champs.

Clodagh is a very experienced schools debating adjudicator and coach. Regional teams she has coached have won the National Champs on three occasions, and she coached the New Zealand team to the quarter-finals of the World Champs in 2010. She has also adjudicated at numerous regional tournaments over the last few years.

Stephen Whittington and Will Chisholm will join Clodagh as member’s of the Motions Committee for the tournament.

Stephen is the President of the Wellington Speaking Union, which organises five schools debating grades in Wellington each year. Stephen is one of New Zealand’s best ever university debaters, having won the Australasian Intervarsity Debating Champs (and twice been a runner-up), reached the semi-finals of the World Universities Champs, and won a range of New Zealand tournaments.

Will has coached the Otago / Southland team on a number of occasions, and is a highly experienced adjudicator at both school and university level. He has adjudicated the Grand Final of the Australasian Intervarsity Debating Championships, as well as a number of New Zealand university competitions.

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

We have also opened applications for the positions of official New Zealand adjudicators at the 2011 World Schools’ Debating Champs in Dundee, Scotland.

This year’s Russell McVeagh New Zealand Schools’ Debating Team will be taking part in TWO World Schools Debating Championships. The first Worlds is in Dundee, Scotland, from 16 – 26 August, 2011. The second Worlds is in Cape Town, South Africa, from 17 – 27 January, 2012.
 
Applications are now open for the position of NZ Coach, and the position of assistant coach.
 
Our preference is to appoint the NZ Coach for the Worlds in both Dundee and Cape Town now. However, we will accept applications from those interested in just Dundee. We are not accepting applications from those interested in Cape Town at this stage (if the eventual coach is appointed for Dundee only, then we will obviously re-open applications for Cape Town later).
 
We are opening applications for the assistant coach position for Dundee only.
Please pass this email onto those who you think may be interested.
 
Please note that applications will close on Friday March 11 at 5pm.
 
NZ TEAM COACH
 
Role of the Coach
 
The role of the NZ Team Coach is to prepare the NZ team team thoroughly for the upcoming World Champs. The coach is expected to attend the tournament in his/her capacity as coach.
 
The coach will be expected to organise (in conjunction with the Council) training sessions for the team in advance of the tournament, and to run those sessions.
 
The NZ team manager will assist with organising travel etc, liaising with the teams, and other non-debating matters that arise. The team manager will also act as the key contact point between the Council and the coach.
 
Time Commitment
 
The coach will be expected to travel to Worlds with the NZ Team. In the time between the date of appointment and the tournament, the coach will be expected to make themselves available to coach the team on mutually acceptable dates for the team members and the coach.
 
We would prefer it if the coach could also attend the National Finals of the NZ Schools Debating Champs in Wellington from May 27 – May 30. The Council will cover transport and accommodation costs to allow the coach to attend.
 
Costs
 
The Council will meet the reasonable travel and accommodation costs for the coaches to attend training sessions, if they are not held where the coaches live.
 
The coaches will be expected to pay a contribution towards the travel costs of sending him or her to Worlds. This contribution has not yet been set by Council, but will be no more than $1000 NZD.
 
If applications are made by a pair of coaches on a co-coach basis, the Council will re-evaluate the contribution of each coach.
 
Appointment Process
 
The appointment process will be as follows:
 
1. Applicants need to send:

• a coaching/debating CV;
• a letter which explains why they would like the job, why they would be a good coach for the NZ team, and which comments on their strengths as a coach (applicants should feel free to provide as much info as they would like);
• the name of one person who would be happy to be contacted as an oral referee to the NZ team manager, Christopher Bishop, by Friday March 11 at 5pm on [email protected]

2. Team manager to consider applications and meet with Council to create a shortlist of applicants.
  
3. Oral referees of shortlisted applicants to be contacted.
  
4. Council may authorise a sub-committee to conduct an interview with short-listed applicants if deemed necessary.
  
5. Council to advise applicants of outcomes by Friday March 18.
 
ASSISTANT COACH
 
We are also looking for an assistant coach of the NZ Team for Worlds in Dundee. The position is designed for someone who may like to coach the NZ team in the future, and who would like to gain some experience and skills by learning from the NZ coach proper. The assistant coach will work with the NZ Team coach in preparing the team for Worlds in Dundee.
 
People who have coached or are coaching regional teams are encouraged to apply for this position.
 
The Council will help pay for the assistant coach to attend the NZ team training sessions in advance of Worlds in Dundee. The assistant coach is also encouraged to attend the World Champs with the team. Due to the registration restrictions in Dundee, the assistant coach will need to attend as an official New Zealand adjudicator. To this end, the Council will set aside one of New Zealand’s two judging slots at the tournament for the assistant coach.
 
Unfortunately, the assistant coach will have to cover their own flights to Worlds and their registration costs (480 British pounds).
 
Appointment Process
 
The appointment process will be as follows:
 
1. Applicants need to send:

• a coaching/debating CV;
• a letter which explains why they would like the job, why they would be a good assistant coach for the NZ team, and which comments on their strengths as a coach (applicants should feel free to provide as much info as they would like). Comments as to future coaching intentions would also be welcomed.
• the name of one person who would be happy to be contacted as an oral referee to the NZ team manager, Christopher Bishop, by Friday March 11 at 5pm on [email protected]

2. Team manager to consider applications and meet with Council to create a shortlist of applicants.
  
3. Oral referees of shortlisted applicants to be contacted.
  
4. Council may authorise a sub-committee to conduct an interview with short-listed applicants if deemed necessary.
  
5. Council to advise applicants of outcomes by Friday March 18

The Council is pleased to announce that the National Finals of the 2011 Russell McVeagh New Zealand Schools’ Debating Championships will be held in Wellington from Friday May 27 to Monday May 30.

Nationals is earlier next year due to the 2011 World Schools’ Debating Championships being held in mid-August.

For more information, please contact the President of the Council.

Photos from the Grand Final of the 2010 National Finals of the Russell McVeagh New Zealand Schools’ Debating Champs are now online. Click here.