When audiences listen to a speech, most of their attention – around 93% – is directed not to the actual words, but rather to your physical and verbal manner.  Given this, it is crucial to get this part of public speaking right to ensure that any audience is listening.

Utilising activity-based, experiential learning, students will spend most of their time in this program focusing on developing their own personal speaking manner, helping them engage with their audiences to a much greater degree (whilst also finding a moment here and there to cover the other essential elements of a speech like structure) and present their speeches with style.

For the most part, there is very little that separates our online and physical programs – both are interactive, cover the same theoretical concepts, and give students a range of opportunities to practice and develop their skills. Whilst some activities are different between the two, as some activities lend themselves better to physical or online classes, the actual learning outcomes remain the same for both classes.

Notably, the difference in price isn’t an indication of the quality of the program, or how much students will get out of the experience – both get the same amount of attention and care, and we’ve found some students develop better in an online environment.  The deviation instead is simply a result of the higher costs (such as venue hire) associated with running classes in-person.

Whilst children appear to not be at particularly high risk from COVID-19, SSA places their safety (and the safety of our coaches) as our highest priority.  This emphasis on safety is the first tier of our teaching policy.

We generally consider the risk of transmission at our programs to be very unlikely.  This is for three reasons:

1. From a general perspective, whilst children are not immune, they do show substantially milder symptoms than adults, and appear to catch and transmit the virus at lower rates.
2. Despite high vaccination levels, the Government is still acting cautiously in removing restrictions – most people who catch the virus are quarantined, which has significantly limited the spread of the virus.
3. We have put in place a range of extra protections that are reviewed continuously for best practice, and seek to keep students as safe as possible.

We have prepared our COVID-19 Action Plan, which outlines the three methods we are using to keep students safe.

Whilst you are very welcome to read the Action Plan in full, the three elements are:

1. Symptom Testing – whilst we instruct all parents not to send students displaying symptoms (or awaiting test results), we will be using coach training to ensure that any students who show symptoms are isolated and removed from programs;
2. Limited Exposure – there are a range of steps in place to help ensure that students (and parents) socially distance themselves and limit the chance of spreading the virus; and
3. Enhanced Sanitation – we have adopted hand and surface cleaning regimens to help prevent the spread of COVID-19.

Additionally, we will also be continuing to offer online programs for the foreseeable future. This will help ensure that parents and students who are uncomfortable with physical classes have an alternative that allows them to feel safe, whilst still receiving a quality education in public speaking and debating.

Please check out our COVID-19 Action Plan here, or get in touch if you have any questions!

Our Presentation Skills Leopards course is a beginner level program designed for students starting out in the world of public speaking. Whilst it is suitable for all Year 1 students, it is also perfect for inexperienced Year 2 students before they move up to the Presentation Skills Lions program.

Each term of the Leopards program has its own focus – whether that be speaking manner or news reporting – meaning that students don’t repeat content even if they remain in the Leopards program for the entire year.

Whilst students would definitely benefit from joining at the beginning of the year and following through, they are also welcome to join at the beginning of any term – they’ll still get plenty out of doing the program whenever they join.

Our Leopards program is also appropriate for students who have already completed our Presentation Skills Tabby Cats holiday workshops (which similarly have different content) or our Speaking Skills Cubs weekly term program – the Leopards course goes through a range of different skills in more depth, making it perfect for students to continue building their speaking skills.

That said, if you’re not sure about whether your child will be able to handle the two-hour session length, we also run the simpler Speaking Skills Cubs program for Year 1 – 2 students as well.

Once students reach Year 2, we recommend they move up to our Presentation Skills Lions program so they can continue their public speaking journey!

Please get in touch if you’d like to discuss what’s best for your child!

After completing the Presentation Skills Leopards Manner program, students should:

• have participated in several activities (that feel like games) in a nurturing class environment, each of which help break down the stigma that public speaking is something to be feared;
• understand the essential elements of a speech, with a particular focus on what makes excellent speaking manner;
• have been given multiple opportunities to present to their class in each and every session; and
• have a much greater appreciation of how fun public speaking can be!

Connecting with Audiences

The first few sessions are designed to help students get to know one another and feel comfortable in the classroom setting.  Amongst various speaking activities, students will be exposed to the concept of an audience, and come to understand that speeches are about finding a connection between their personal interests and those watching their presentation.

Developing Speech Ideas

As students progress, they will spend a couple of sessions working on forming their own opinions and turning those opinions into speeches.  They will have multiple opportunities to share and justify those opinions to their class – placing a particular focus on the manner they use to present those opinions.

Developing Speaking Manner

From the mid-point of the term, students will move away from the theory around public speaking, and start spending much more of their time focusing on developing their own personal speaking manner. Rather than concentrating on concepts, these sessions revolve around practise, feedback, reflection and implementation – the four critical steps to improving one’s performance.

Parent Presentations

The term ends with a parent presentation – an opportunity for students to present to an adult audience.  Parent presentations are not only a great way to help students develop their confidence, but also represent an opportunity to showcase what they’ve learned.  Students generally spend the last couple of sessions preparing and practising their speeches for the presentation.

For physical classes, we’ll make an assessment closer to the end of the term as to whether we can run presentations in person. If government restrictions still prevent parents from entering the classrooms, we’ll either film their presentations, or potentially live stream them for parents to watch from home!

Our classes vary in size for every program depending on how many bookings we receive – however, the maximum size of our Presentation Skills Leopards class is around nine students with one coach.

If there aren’t any spots left, it’s usually because we’ve hit capacity – please get in touch with us and we’ll see what we can do about either opening an extra class, fitting your child into the existing class, or putting you on a waitlist in case any students pull out!

By the end of each program, students will have:

• a feedback sheet, prepared individually for them by their coach, which goes through what they’ve improved on, and what still needs some work;
• a certificate recognising their achievements;
• a course booklet that covers everything they’ve learned throughout the program;
• the speech that they prepared for their final presentations; and
• hopefully a more positive perspective on public speaking!

This program is perfect for beginner level students who are currently in Year 2.

It follows a similar structure to the Presentation Skills Lions program, so Year 2 students can move up at any term during the year without repeating content!

If you’d like to discuss your child’s specific circumstances, please don’t hesitate to get in touch!

We have specifically designed two programs for our tiny tots:

• Speaking Skills Butterflies, which runs during the school term; and
• Speaking Skills Bumblebees, which runs over two days during the school holidays.

Given the age group involved, these programs are only run in person – we don’t run any Kindy programs online.

Our Cubs, Leopards, Lions, Tabby Cats and Tigers programs are designed for Year 1 – 2 students and require them to be able to write at least simple sentences, as well as read their own handwriting and instructions on the board, which most Kindergarten students are unfortunately not able to do. This may well lead to those students feeling inferior to the rest of the class, creating new fears around public speaking – the exact opposite of what we hope to achieve.