Speaking Schools Australasia has made some big changes as to how we organise our public speaking and debating holiday workshops! 

To simplify what’s on offer, ensure that students always have fresh material to learn and to streamline a ground-up refresh of all our workshops, we’ve condensed our offerings from 13 programs down to 9, and modified the age groups for all programs Year 5 and above.

Notably, at the core of this refresh is ensuring that no student gets left behind, that there are appropriate options available for different experience levels and that all of our workshops will be even better than before. All content refresh will be targeted at prioritising practice over theory, so students not only learn the most important content, but have plenty of opportunities to practice it as well.

We’ll also introduce similar changes for Term #2, so please watch this space.

Please give this blog a read to understand the changes for your student’s year group!

 

My child is in Kindy! What changes can I expect?

Whilst our Speaking Skills Bumblebees will receive a refresh and a facelift, it will more or less remain the same – just now with a pink icon and more activities for our youngest students! 

 

My child is in Year 1 or 2! What changes can I expect?

Our introductory holiday workshop, Presentation Skills Tabby Cats, will be receiving a content refresh to ensure it’s up to date with modern public speaking and teaching practices, but will otherwise be staying as it is. It is now being branded as an ‘Introductory Workshop’, which means it is the best workshop for students to do once they hit Year 1 or 2, even if they’ve previously completed our Speaking Skills Bumblebees or Butterflies programs. 

As an Introductory Workshop, Presentation Skills Tabby Cats is only intended to be completed once, before students move on to Presentation Skills Tigers (which changes every holiday).

Our mixed experience holiday workshop, Presentation Skills Tigers, will be receiving a range of new focuses that distinguish it from our other programs, and mean that a Year 1 student who started in January 2024 will not repeat any content even if they were to do the program every holiday up to October 2025 (before they move onto Speaking Camp Koalas or Speaking Camp Kangaroos). 

 

My child is in Year 3 or 4! What changes can I expect?

Our introductory holiday workshop, Speaking Camp Koalas, will be receiving a content refresh to ensure it’s up to date with modern public speaking and teaching practices, but will otherwise be staying as it is. It is now being branded as an ‘Introductory Workshop’, which means it is the best workshop for students to do once they hit Year 3 or 4, even if they’ve previously completed any of our younger term (e.g. Leopards or Lions) or holiday (e.g. Tabby Cats or Tigers) programs. 

As an Introductory Workshop, Speaking Camp Koalas is only intended to be completed once, before students move on to Speaking Camp Kangaroos (which changes every holiday).

Our mixed experience holiday workshop, Speaking Camp Kangaroos, will be receiving a range of new focuses that distinguish it from our other programs, and mean that a Year 3 student who started in January 2024 will not repeat any content even if they were to do the program every holiday up to October 2025 (before they move onto our Speak Out Hummingbirds workshop). 

 

My child is in Year 5! What changes can I expect?

There are three main changes for students in Year 5.

Firstly, we will be merging our two beginner-level workshops (Public Speaking Honeyeaters and Debating Hummingbirds) into a single program – Speak Out Hummingbirds – which will introduce students to both public speaking and debating. This is aimed at exposing students to both disciplines, so they can get a feel for both and determine which one they enjoy more.

Secondly, our Debating Hawks workshop (which was previously for experienced Year 5 & 6 students) is being refreshed as an intermediate-level program that is aimed at primary school (or early high school) students who have some debating experience but still have more to learn. This will be perfect for students who have either completed our Hummingbirds workshop or those who are doing our Debating Parrots program during the term.

Thirdly, the old experienced Public Speaking Herons program is being merged with the high school Experienced Public Speaking program to make the Public Speaking Polar Bears workshop (see below), and so will no longer be offered to students in Year 5. However, should your Year 5 child be particularly interested in public speaking, please get in touch and we will see whether we can accommodate them.

 

My child is in Year 6! What changes can I expect?

There are three main changes for students in Year 6.

Firstly, we will be merging our two beginner-level workshops (Public Speaking Honeyeaters and Debating Hummingbirds) into a single program – Speak Out Hummingbirds – which will introduce students to both public speaking and debating. This is aimed at exposing students to both disciplines, so they can get a feel for both and determine which one they enjoy more.

Secondly, our Debating Hawks workshop (which was previously for experienced Year 5 & 6 students) is being refreshed as an intermediate-level program that is aimed at primary school (or early high school) students who have some debating experience but still have more to learn. This will be perfect for students who have either completed our Hummingbirds workshop or those who are doing our Debating Parrots program during the term.

Thirdly, the old experienced Public Speaking Herons program is being merged with the high school Experienced Public Speaking program to create the intermediate-level Public Speaking Polar Bears workshop. This will provide excellent public speaking opportunities for students with some experience in Years 6, 7, or 8.

 

My child is in Year 7! What changes can I expect?

There are three main changes for students in Year 7.

Firstly, we will be merging our two beginner-level workshops (Public Speaking Honeyeaters and Debating Hummingbirds) into a single program – Speak Out Hummingbirds – which will introduce students to both public speaking and debating. This is aimed at exposing students to both disciplines, so they can get a feel for both and determine which one they enjoy more.

Secondly, our old Experienced Public Speaking program is being merged with Public Speaking Herons to make the intermediate-level Public Speaking Polar Bears workshop, which will provide excellent public speaking opportunities for students with some experience who are in Years 6, 7 or 8.

Thirdly, there will now be two options available for debaters who already have some experience:

• Our intermediate Debating Hawks workshop has been expanded to include Year 7 students who have some debating experience, but don’t quite feel ready (or haven’t been recommended) for our more advanced Practice Debates program;
• Our advanced Practice Debates program (formerly Experienced Debating) has been expanded to include Year 10, and is meant for advanced Year 7 students who are able to go toe-to-toe with older students in a debating context.

If you’re not sure which would be best for your child, please let us know, and we’d be more than happy to discuss it!

 

My child is in Year 8! What changes can I expect?

There are three main changes for students in Year 8.

Firstly, we will no longer offer an introductory program (such as Foundations of Debating or Foundations of Public Speaking) for Year 8 students, and instead invite them to give one of our other workshops a go (see below).

Secondly, our old Experienced Public Speaking program is being merged with Public Speaking Herons to make the Public Speaking Polar Bears workshop, which will provide excellent public speaking opportunities for students with some experience who are in Years 6, 7 or 8.

Thirdly, our old Experienced Debating program has been refreshed as Practice Debates, will now accommodate Year 10 students, and more intermediate-level Year 7 students will be invited to join Debating Hawks. This means the program should now have a higher average ability level, making it more challenging for older students.

What should you do if you have an inexperienced child in Year 8? We would recommend that they still give our Public Speaking Polar Bears program a try – coaches go over the essentials at the beginning of the program to ensure a level playing field. However, should this not work for you, you’re welcome to get in touch and we can discuss whether Speak Out Hummingbirds or Debating Hawks might be a better fit for your child. Please note that Practice Debates is not recommended for inexperienced Year 8 students.

 

My child is in Year 9! What changes can I expect?

Firstly, we will no longer offer an introductory program (such as Foundations of Debating or Foundations of Public Speaking) for Year 9 students, and instead invite them to give one of our other workshops a go (see below).

Secondly, our old Experienced Public Speaking program is being merged with the experienced Public Speaking Herons program to make the Public Speaking Polar Bears workshop, designed for students up to Year 8. Should your child in Year 9 be keen to join this workshop, please get in touch and we’ll do our best to accommodate you.

Thirdly, our old Experienced Debating program has been refreshed as Practice Debates, and will now accommodate Year 10 students, and more intermediate-level Year 7 students will be invited to join Debating Hawks. This means the program should now have a higher average ability level, making it more challenging for older students.

What should you do if you have an inexperienced child in Year 9? We would recommend that they still give Practice Debates a try – coaches go over the essentials at the beginning of the program to ensure a level playing field. However, should your child be on the shier side, they may be better served in our Public Speaking Polar Bears workshop – please get in touch and we can discuss your personal circumstances!

 

My child is in Year 10! What changes can I expect?

The is only one big change for Year 10, and that is we’ve now got a workshop that can accommodate them!

Our Experienced Debating program has been refreshed as Practice Debates, will now accommodate Year 10 students, and more intermediate-level Year 7 students will be invited to join Debating Hawks. This means the program should now have a higher average ability level, making it more challenging for older students.

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