What's involved?  Debating schedule

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There are four aspects involved in debating: attending debates, attending training sessions, completing some preparation work at home, and coming along to special events.

Debates

There are five preliminary debates, plus three possible finals rounds, spread across Term 2 and 3. Each round is approximately three weeks apart, and a team's preliminary debates will all occur on the same day of the week.

SADA debates begin at 5.30pm on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday nights at various schools depending on division (please see https://www.sada.org.au/venues for more information). 

Debating SA debates occur Monday to Wednesday nights at other schools around Adelaide, between 6.30pm and 9.30pm for approximately 1 hour. Once a student has been registered for debating on Trybooking, they will be able to nominate their preferred weeknight for Debating SA on the Google Form on the Google Classroom.

Once teams have been formed, and SADA and  Debating SA have provided Draw information (late Term 1 or in Term 2). Please view this page to learn how to locate this information.

Trainings

Year 7 and 8 teams will attend our Debating Hub on Wednesday mornings, 8.30am till 9.30am in lieu of the normal late start to lessons on Wednesdays. A team of experienced debating coaches will be present to support these trainings, as well as the coach assigned to the team.

Teams for Year 9 and above will have varied practice times and locations, as they depend on the availability of the team members and the coach. This may be at lunch, after school, at the Debating Hub or at another time, probably on the school property. Coaches will organise this directly with teams. As a general rule, trainings should not take place during class time.

It’s important that students maintain good communication with their coach(es) and team members. This includes checking their emails regularly (ideally every morning), letting the coach and team know when they cannot attend a training or debate, and collaborating with their team to make sure the preparation is completed on time.

Homework

Students will need to complete some work at home, such as research and speech writing, to ensure their debate is prepared on time. It is important to remember that a student's teammates are disadvantaged if they do not complete this work in a timely manner.

Special Events

Each year, a few special events will be held; for example, a launch party and an end-of-season party. Details will be posted on Google Classroom for students to view, so it is important that they check the Google Classroom regularly.