Information for New Students & Parents

For Year 1 Students Interested in Joining

There are no official auditions to join the Debate Club. Year 1 students who are interested in joining the Debate Club should indicate their desire to do so during the mass Co-Curricular Activity (CCA) selection/preference-indication/assignment exercise that should take place sometime during Year 1 orientation.

After the mass CCA selection/preference-indication/assignment exercise, Year 1 students who have been assigned to the Debate Club as their non-Uniformed Group (UG) CCA will have to report for weekly club training sessions on Mondays, 1500 to 1730 hours if held face-to-face or 1600 to 1830 hours if held online. (Once the club receives the list of assigned Year 1 club members from the school administration, a further announcement about these club training sessions will be made during morning assembly, posted on the Debate Club notice board, and broadcasted on the school’s online messaging platform Microsoft Teams.)

Year 1 students who are not assigned to the Debate Club as their non-UG CCA but who nevertheless have an interest in joining us should attend the first club training session for Year 1s to further discuss the matter with the tutors-in-charge. Usually, such students have the option of either joining debate as their third CCA, or requesting for a transfer from their assigned non-UG to the Debate Club (subject to the other CCA tutor’s approval and the ability of the former CCA to release assigned members).

Students should be sure that they will be able to attend weekly club training sessions before committing to the Debate Club. No special arrangements will be made for students that have other Monday afternoon commitments (i.e. e.g. Regional Studies Programme, Malay Studies Programme, private tuition, etc).

About Competition Teams at the Secondary/IP Level

There are no official auditions for competition teams. Coaches, during club training, develop and look out for any latent student potential, submitting their recommendations to the tutors-in-charge about team compositions for the various competitions, taking into account (inter alia) consistency of student performance at club debates, teamwork potential, and general level of dedication to debate as an activity when doing so. It should be noted that, barring demonstration of exceptional talent, Year 1 students are rarely sent for competitions.

Students selected for competition teams will be expected to attend (in addition to club training sessions) further team training sessions several times a week, usually taking place from 1500 to 1800 hours. The days that these sessions take place on vary from week to week due to the seasonal nature of the competitive debate circuit, the natural “ramping up” of training sessions closer to competition dates, and the schedules of our coaches. Those being said, the club does its best to schedule training sessions in a way that accommodates as many of our team members as possible.

For Year 5 Students Interested in Joining

There are no official auditions to join the Debate Club. Year 5 students who are interested in joining the Debate Club should indicate their desire to do so at our booth during the Co-Curricular Activity (CCA) fair that should take place sometime during Year 5 orientation. Note that training sessions for the IB team/group usually take place from 1500/1530 to 1800/1830 hours. The days that these sessions take place on vary from week to week depending on the coaches’ schedules and the Year 5 and 6 timetables.

During the Year 5 CCA fair, interested students should register here @ bit.ly/acsdebateinterest. (Note that this link is active only in the days leading up to, on, and for a few days after the Year 5 CCA fair.)

Co-payment

Due to the rigorous nature of training and the fact that the club hires external coaches, the club, like most other sports CCAs in the school, operates on an annual co-payment scheme to defray costs. The exact co-payment fee payable depends on the year level of the student—with Year 4 and Year 6 graduating debaters paying less than debaters from other levels. Co-payment fees have also varied generally from year to year, depending on what is stipulated by the school administration.