During the upcoming term, we will be offering our weekly programs both in-person and online.

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.

Importantly, 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 actually 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.

Should you want to learn more about our online offering, we’ve got a helpful video which goes through our Practice Debates Online program below – stay tuned for one that explores our in-person program as well!

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

We generally consider the risk of transmission at our programs to be extremely low.  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 the virus at lower rates.
2. Local transmission rates, since the curve was flattened, are now very low, and the Government is acting very cautiously in removing restrictions – most people who catch the virus are quarantined, as are any known close contacts, which has significantly limited the spread of the virus.
3. We have put in place a range of extra protections that are constantly reviewed for best practice, and seek to keep students as safe as possible.

We have prepared our COVID-19 Action Plan which outlines the three elements 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 parents are instructed to not send students displaying symptoms (or awaiting test results), we will be using temperature checks and 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, and limit the chance of spreading the virus; and
3. Enhanced Sanitation – hand and surface cleaning regimens are being adopted to help prevent the spread of COVID-19.

In addition, we will also be continuing to offer online programs for the foreseeable future, to 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 Practice Debates course is an experienced level program.

Designed for students with formal coaching in debating, we recommend that students only enrol if they have:

• completed our Foundations of Debating (or Debating Hummingbirds) holiday program at least once;
• completed multiple terms of our Debating Parrots program;
• previously participated in either our Debating Pelicans or Practice Debates term program or Experienced Debating holiday program, and want to continue working on their debating skills;
• received formal training with another provider; or
• attended a school with a comprehensive debating training program, and competed in a number of interschool debates.

Importantly, debating and public speaking are very different skills – attending a public speaking program with us, or participating in a public speaking program at school, doesn’t really prepare students for this workshop – they would be better off giving our Foundations of Debating holiday program a try (or get in touch to discuss whether Debating Parrots may be appropriate).

If you’re not sure whether your child would be suited for our Practice Debates program, please get in touch and we would be more than happy to discuss it with you!

Over the course of the term, students will have the opportunity to:

• revise key theory about policy (‘should’) debates and take their understanding to the next level;
• deploy what they have learned during in-class debates (there will be practice debates most weeks of the term);
• received targeted individualised feedback and work towards individual goals;
• practice different speaking roles and argue from both affirmative and negative sides of a debate; and
• learn how to work effectively in a team environment.

Our Practice Debates course is a modular program, which places an emphasis on practice over theory – this means that rather than prescribe what coaches will teach over a term, we instead give them a wide range of session that they are able to pick and choose from, depending on the skill level, experience and general preferences of the group that they are teaching.

That said, students will:

• have the opportunity to revise the key concepts involved with ‘Policy’ debating at the beginning of the term, to ensure that everyone is on the same page;
• participate in practice debates almost every week; and
• receive plenty of feedback to help them develop as individual debaters.

Our classes vary in size every workshop depending on how many bookings we receive – however, the maximum size of our Practice Debates class is around eight 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;
• copies of the speeches they prepared over the course of the term; and
• a deeper understanding of policy style debates!