Coaching

Alumni and external debating professionals coach students on a weekly basis. These coaches have undergone coaching training and are experienced debaters.

Guidance is given to debaters about preparing debates, critical thinking, researching current topic areas, public speaking and presentation skills.

Coaches organise training sessions with the team twice a week, once before or after school and prior to the debate commencing, all members are required to attend. Coaches also communicate with their teams via email in discussion forums and may organise mock-debates with other Monte teams.

In Term 4, Monte runs an 8-week coaching program for anyone interested, designed to teach girls the necessary skills for getting selected into a team the following year. It is a unique experience to perfect skills or to learn some new ones and is a fun way to warm the debaters up for the competitions in Term 1. Each year Monte sources an experienced debating professional to run this program in conjunction with the debating coordinator. In past years we have had the NSW Debating Coach, Members of the NSW and QLD state teams and chief adjudicators. In 2012, Monte has secured the chief adjudicators for the CAS and Archdale competitions.

Parents of Debating Involvement

For all the dedicated parents who find it exhausting to sit in traffic and stay up late on Tuesday or Friday nights, perhaps not even having the energy to focus on the sophistication of Monte debates, there is a new social scene to liven up your evening. The Parents of Debating is a group of hardworking parents who have taken it upon themselves to be responsible for the suppers at home debates. The advantages? First access to the tastiest treats brought in by students and parents, making new friends among the parents of girls your daughter may well be spending significant amounts of time with over the next few years, and seeing the smiling faces of debaters light up upon seeing the delicious supper. The disadvantages? None really, because face it; you’d probably be there anyway.

For more information please contact Diana Choquete at dchoquet1@bigpond.com