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We hope everyone is staying safe during these unprecedented weather events. We are currently in the process of updating our website with information on the ASD competition for 2023.

In the interim, we have updated our website with our 2023 calendar linked here.

Key dates for you to be aware of are below:

Registration Deadlines

• Teacher in Charge Confirmation Form – Thursday 2 March
• Seasonals Championship Registration Form – Monday 6 March at 5pm
• Premier Grade Registration Form – Tuesday 7 March
• Open Grade Registration Form – Thursday 16 March

Tournament Dates

• Seasonals – Saturday 11 March
• Counties Manukau Regionals – Saturday 25 March
• Auckland Regionals – Saturday 1 April and Sunday 2 April

Resumption of In-Person Debating

With the end of Covid restrictions, we are hopeful that we will be able to resume in-person debating in 2023. This will be dependent on the willingness of our host schools to host ASD in-person this year. If you think your school may be interested in hosting ASD, please let us know at info@asd.org.nz.

We have now reached the end of the preliminary rounds for 2022. We know this has been a challenging year with the prevalence of Covid and other illnesses in our community that made it difficult to organize teams. Despite this, we hope that you have had an enjoyable season and that your students have been able to develop their logical thinking and public speaking skills.

A massive thank you to all of the teachers, coaches, adjudicators, and host school coordinators who make Auckland Schools Debating possible. Without your voluntary time and effort, this competition would not be possible.

Breaking Teams

This year ASD had 300 teams from 60 schools participate in our competitions and we offer our congratulations to all breaking teams on their exceptional achievements.

The break for each division can be found linked below:

• Junior Open
• Senior Open
• Advanced Open
• Premier Junior
• Premier Advanced

Information on how the break is calculated can be found on our website linked here: http://aucklandschoolsdebating.org.nz/index.php/home/competitions/policies/break-determination/

Grade convenors will be in touch with breaking teams with details on their Octo-Final/Quarter Finals. Subject to the willingness of schools to host, we expect that the first in-person round of the break rounds will be the Semi-Finals.

Upcoming Dates

We would encourage your schools to enter the following upcoming ASD competitions:

• • Junior Championships (Saturday 30 July and Sunday 31 July)
    • Entries open next term
  • Impromptu Cup (Saturday 20 August and Sunday 21 August)

We would also love to see you at the ASD Prizegiving and Premier Advanced final on Wednesday 14 September.

Grade Coaching Sessions

Dear ASD Community,

Welcome to Auckland Schools Debating for 2022. This post contains information on the entry process for 2022 as well as other crucial information for the year ahead.

Important Links

• Website – www.asd.org.nz
• 2022 Registration Guide and Competition Information
• 2022 Calendar
• 2022 Changes
• How to Debate Guide
• Online Debating Guide

Registration Deadlines

• Teacher in Charge Confirmation Form – Monday 7 March
• Seasonals Championship Registration Form – Wednesday 9 March (5pm)
• Premier Grade Registration Form – Tuesday 15 arch
• Open Grade Registration Form – Thursday 24 March

Tournament Dates

• Seasonals – Saturday 12 March
• Counties Manukau Regionals – Saturday 19 March
• Auckland Regionals – Saturday 2 April and Sunday 3 April

Changes in 2022

Debating via Zoom

Due to the ongoing presence of Covid in the community and the Red light settings under the Covid Protection Framework ASD will be operating online via Zoom for at least Term 1 of 2022.

We will seek to re-evaluate this policy at the end of term 1 and will run a consultation to decide on whether debating will be in-person or online for term 2. During this consultation, schools will likely be given the opportunity to opt in to online debating.

To read more about how debating via Zoom will work, please refer to our online debating guide linked here.

Coaching and Adjudication Seminars via Zoom

In line with debating taking place over Zoom, ASD will be conducting its normal Grade Coaching Sessions and Adjudication Seminars via Zoom.

Entry Fees

In 2022 there has been an increase in fees. This decision is not taken lightly but it has been made to ensure the ongoing sustainability of the competition.

As in previous years, we will be offering fee subsidies to schools who need it. We will be reaching out to schools which qualify for these fee subsidies individually. If you believe you will have issues paying but have not been contacted, please get in touch with the committee via email.

Unfortunately due to the ongoing presence of Covid in the community and the Red light settings under the Covid Protection Framework ASD will be operating online via Zoom for at least Term 1 of 2022

This decision has been made for the following reasons:

• Debating is subject to the 100 person gathering limit under the Red light setting. Many of our grades see more than 100 people attending on any given night
• The likelihood of a close-contact event disrupting our ability to meet in-person
• To provide certainty to schools for planning purposes
• In some cases, some of our normal host schools are unable to host gatherings on Campus due to school policy

We will seek to re-evaluate this policy at the end of term 1 and will run a consultation to decide on whether debating will be in-person or online for term 2. During this consultation, schools will likely be given the opportunity to opt in to online debating.

To read more about how debating via Zoom will work, please refer to our online debating guide linked here.

Our 2021 Calendar can be found on our website here!

Entry Deadlines:

• Tuesday 16 March – Entry Deadline (Premier Grades)
• Thursday 25 March – Entry Deadline (Open Grades)

Tournaments:

• Saturday 27 March/Sunday 28 March – Auckland Regionals
• Saturday 31 July/Sunday 1 August – Junior Championships
• Saturday 21 August/Sunday 22 August – Impromptu Cup

Coaching Sessions:

Note: For 2021, we will also run some sessions over Zoom to increase the accessibility of the sessions (these may be less interactive than our in-person sessions).

Zoom link for all sessions (please feel free to share directly with your adjudicators): https://zoom.us/j/91371949546?pwd=ZHdNS1B3RUZ4S3IvcnZQUUJpYUswZz09

• Wednesday 17 March (5:30pm – 7:00pm) – PJ Coaching Session at Diocesan School for Girls
• Tuesday 23 March (5:30pm – 7:00pm) – AO Coaching Session at St Cuthbert’s College and Zoom
• Monday 29 March (4:30pm – 6:00pm) – JO Coaching Sessions at Rangitoto College, Epsom Girls Grammar School, Lynfield College, Howick College, Tangaroa College and Zoom
• Tuesday 30 March (4:30pm – 6:00pm) – SO Coaching Sessions at Westlake Boys High School, Mt Roskill Grammar School, Sacred Heart College, De La Salle College, Avondale College and Zoom

Adjudication Seminars:

Adjudication Seminars for Junior Open and Senior Open will be run online via Zoom in 2021. This will make it easier for us to provide high quality seminars to all teachers in Auckland. These sessions are compulsory in order to be an approved adjudicator (even if you have previous adjudication experience). These sessions should also be attended by those intending to be student adjudicators.

Zoom link for all sessions (please feel free to share directly with your adjudicators): https://zoom.us/j/93210987620?pwd=L2pWTGV5YnM0MGtSdUxUZWdyMVpHZz09

• Monday 22 March (4:30pm – 6:00pm) – Zoom
• Tuesday 23 March (4:30pm – 6:00pm) – Zoom
• Wednesday 31 March (5:30pm-7:00pm) – Zoom
• Thursday 1 April (5:30pm – 7:00pm) – Zoom

ASD is pleased to announce based on the positive feedback we received from schools that the ASD season will be resuming from 2 June with all preliminary rounds taking place online.

Dear Students, Teachers, Parents and the Wider Debating Community,

ASD has been continually reviewing advice and recent developments related to the outbreak of COVID-19 in New Zealand.