All Publicity at school level regarding the Lions Mad Minute competition is a school responsibility. The Lions Clubs grant schools the right to publicise the Lions Mad Minute competition in all means they use to publicise their activities. Many schools used social media for this purpose. The Lions Clubs will organise publicity at a broad activity level and only where approval is received in writing will school names, student names and results be published. Photos will only be used where the permission of parents is shown to have been granted for that purpose. Key Contacts: Lions Club of Mount Gambier: Rory McEwen – 0417 803 627 – [email protected]Ross Parkinson – 0400 107 571 – [email protected]Lions Club of Gambier City: Wilf Nitschke – 0438 177 440 – [email protected]Lions Mad Minute Competition – Evolution in the Limestone Coast 2012 – No Grand Challenge, school class based only 2013 – Combined school final won by student from Allendale Area School 2014 – School aggregate winner introduced - Reidy Park Primary School 2015 - Grand Challenge splits to 2 divisions, based upon Year 5 enrolments more than 24 Year 5 & 24 or less Year 5 Large Schools winner - Reidy Park Primary School Small Schools winner - Compton Primary School 2016 - Student & school numbers force split to separate Upper & Lower Limestone Coast Grand Challenges Lower Limestone Coast Grand Challenge Large Schools winner – Mulga Street Primary School Small Schools winner – Compton Primary School Upper Limestone Coast Grand Challenge - Winner – Lucindale Area School 2017 – continued growth sees the Upper Limestone Coast Grand Challenge split into two divisions. Lower Limestone Coast Grand Challenge Large Schools winner – Tenison Woods College Small Schools winner – Mil Lel Primary School Upper Limestone Coast Grand Challenge Large Schools winner – Naracoorte Primary School Small Schools winner – Lucindale Area School
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All Publicity at school level regarding the Lions Mad Minute competition is a school responsibility.The Lions Clubs grant schools the right to publicise the Lions Mad Minute competition in all means they use to publicise their activities. Many schools used social media for this purpose.The Lions Clubs will organise publicity at a broad activity level and only where approval is received in writing will school names, student names and results be published. Photos will only be used where the permission of parents is shown to have been granted for that purpose.Key Contacts:Lions Club of Mount Gambier:Rory McEwen – 0417 803 627 – [email protected] Parkinson – 0400 107 571 – [email protected] Club of Gambier City:Wilf Nitschke – 0438 177 440 – [email protected] Mad Minute Competition – Evolution in the Limestone Coast2012 – No Grand Challenge, school class based only2013 – Combined school final won by student from Allendale Area School2014 – School aggregate winner introduced - Reidy Park Primary School2015 - Grand Challenge splits to 2 divisions, based upon Year 5 enrolmentsmore than 24 Year 5 & 24 or less Year 5Large Schools winner - Reidy Park Primary SchoolSmall Schools winner - Compton Primary School2016 - Student & school numbers force split to separate Upper & Lower Limestone Coast Grand ChallengesLower Limestone Coast Grand ChallengeLarge Schools winner – Mulga Street Primary SchoolSmall Schools winner – Compton Primary SchoolUpper Limestone Coast Grand Challenge - Winner – Lucindale Area School2017 – continued growth sees the Upper Limestone Coast Grand Challenge split into two divisions.Lower Limestone Coast Grand ChallengeLarge Schools winner – Tenison Woods College
Small Schools winner – Mil Lel Primary SchoolUpper Limestone Coast Grand ChallengeLarge Schools winner – Naracoorte Primary SchoolSmall Schools winner – Lucindale Area School
Lions MadMinute
CompetitionThe Lions Mad Minute is a structured impromptu public speaking competition for students in mixed level & Year 5 classes in state and public schools.This brochure provides a precise of the Lions Mad Minute and it presents the story of how the Lions Club of Mount Gambier and supporting clubs and school communities have successfully developed and delivered with great success this competition.This brochure outlines the history, philosophy and a general overview of the competition and is intended to be used to promote the Lions Mad Minute competition.It is a precursor to the more comprehensive online manual that outlines in detail all aspects of the competition with examples and stories of how it has grown and been modified to ensure its success.It must be stressed that the Lions Mad Minute competition is flexible as each Lions Club and their Schools can operate differently but the purpose of We Serve will be a guide to achieving the vison of the Lions Mad Minute. “.. . .. Our Vision is of all Year 5 students having fun while learning to be engaging, confident and creative speakers .. . ..”The competition mission is to provide the structure that allows the Year 5 students to experience this. Acknowledgement must be made that not every school has discrete classes of Year 5 students and of necessity students of other year levels also participate in the competition, many are in mixed level classes.The Lions Mad Minute competition was developed as a project by the Lions Club of Mount Gambier through the combined work of Lion Rory McEwen and Merry Dickins, a state primary school teacher along with the District Education Office.
They were keen to link and expand upon the public speaking experiences available to young students. In the Limestone Coast region, these included the Eisteddfods speaking competition, Year 6 Interschool Public Speaking andJunior Debating in Year 7. Year 5 was chosen as the year best upon which to base the competition.It was also anticipated that following on from the Lions Mad Minute, more students with greater confidence and experience would enter these school based competitions, the profile of the Lions organisation would be enhanced, and greater numbers of schools and students attracted to become potentially active Lions and be involved in other Lions projects. These include Lions Youth of the Year program with its public speaking component, Lions Peace Poster and Youth Exchange.Starting at school level only in four schools [both private and public] in 2012, the Lions Mad Minute competition has spread from within the city of Mount Gambier to cover the entire Limestone Coast Region of South Australia.In 2017, the competition involved 10 Lions Clubs, 34 schools and over 1200 students in 51 classes across the Limestone Coast region in two separate regional competitions.The Lions Mad Minute competition occurs first at a class level within schools, a school may have more than one competition dependent upon student numbers. Once established at school level the Lions Mad Minute competition may expand into the Grand Challenge or interschool competition at the local region or zone level as has occurred in the Limestone Coast. It will not expand beyond that reach.Students speak for one minute on a topic randomly drawn from one of the two pools of questions and are judged against specific criteria. Students nominate which pool of questions they want to select from. There are two question sets, each of 100 questions, Challenge & Super Challenge. A question once drawn is not returned for use for the duration of that specific competition.The main purpose of the program is to expose students to the benefits of Public Speaking.Dependent upon the enrolment of a school and the way its students are arranged there could well be more than one class room competition in each school. In the Limestone Coast
competition where there are many small schools the competition has involved students from Year 4 through to Year 7. The competition is flexible in that student involvement is negotiated with schools and in line with their needs. There is no hard-fast rule at the school based competition level that only Year 5 students may participate or win the prizes and certificates. Year 5 students only however may compete in the second phase Grand Challenge inter school competition.
In 2014 the Grand Challenge was divided into two separate divisions for schools. Small schools with less than 25 Year 5 enrolments and Large schools for those with enrolments of or greater than this amount.There are three judges at the Grand Challenge.In 2016 the Grand Challenge was split in an Upper and Lower Limestone Coast Competition due to the numbers involved.The size of the school total support team is dependent upon the number of schools and the venues capacity.Each student who participates received an individual participation certificate.The top three students at the Grand Challenge [based upon a score aggregate of three judges] receive a cash prize [1st $30, 2nd
$15, 3rd $10], place certificate and personal trophy.Individual student scores from each school team are aggregated to provide a team score that is used to calculate the winning school from each division. Small schools and Large schools. Each winning team receives the Grand Challenge perpetual trophy to hold for the year at their school and of course the bragging rights that come with their success.A computer based scoring system has been developed to allow for the rapid calculation of scores.In our case certificates at all levels were printed through the office of the local Federal MP. They are a full colour certificate and printed on a heavy card stock. The Lions provide the heavy card stock. Where feasible student names are pre-printed as well to maintain quality.The two questions sets are used at both the School and Grand Challenge level. Schools can practice the students as often as they wish. The students can be given the question sets.The Challenge question set provides a simple word or student for the student to speak upon. Examples - At the beach, Hair styles, The best job, FishThe Super Challenge question set contains a statement that allows the student to use their persuasive powers in either a positive or negative sense or a balance between both. Examples - Home work should be banned, Pushbikes are better than motorbikes, Picnics can be fun, We need more time at school, Little brothers and sisters are a pain.
The top three students and their parents are usually invited to a social meeting of the head Lions Club later in the year to be further acknowledged. They may be asked to speak again before this audience.
Participation by a school is voluntary and negotiated on a school by school basis.At school level, the competition is flexible and the decision as to who is eligible for awards and prizes is made in conjunction with the school. The Lions Club provide the resources required and advice on how the competition is conducted elsewhere but the final decision on the conduct and setting of the competition is a school responsibility.Students and schools are rewarded for participation in this program through a variety of awards and incentives in addition to the personal outcomes above.Each student who participates receives an individual participation certificate.The top three students within each competition selected by the two external Lions judges receive a cash prize [1st $15, 2nd $10, 3rd $5] winners certificate and an inscribed medal.Additionally, there are five special category certificates [best opening, best close, most humorous, most expressive and best gestures] or as negotiated by the school and these are judged by the class teacher.The merit certificates are encouragement awards not usually given to the top three place getters. Schools can negotiate to vary or add to these categories to allow other awards to meet student needs specific to the school.Following the completion of the school based competition, each school is invited to send a student team of three Year 5 students to the Grand Challenge, an interschool competitive final. The students undergo the same speaking experience as in the classroom but before a larger audience and in a far more formal setting. The Grand Challenge Competition is run by the Lions Clubs involved and has a dignitary present to award the prizes and trophies.The selection of those three students is a school responsibility. The student team usually incorporates winners of the individual class competition, but the final decision rests with the school. Student availability due to holiday travel, other commitments, illness and the occurrence of more than one class competition all play a part in that decision. Some schools have held a further runoff to decide team composition.
The Grand Challenge is held at the best central venue available such as a community hall or theatre, and if it is in a school ideally a neutral one that has not competed in the competition.Organisational issues such as venue size, number of schools competing, and distance have an impact on the conduct of the Grand Challenge Competition.
Through participation in this competition student outcomes include them gaining experience and confidence in the skills of speaking in the front of others, in developing and expressing their opinions, and in practicing creative and spontaneous thinking.The competition in the Limestone Coast Region has been conducted by local Lions and Lioness Clubs with support from the Soroptimist International local chapter. Lions Club of Mount Gambier has been the main coordinating club.The Limestone Coast region is relatively small [200Km x 200Km] with one large city, Mount Gambier and numerous other variously sized communities all of whom have a strong competitive community spirit. There are many small schools and staff changes usually minimal.The success and growth of the Lions Mad Minute in the Limestone Coast region has been predicated upon a vision between Lions, teachers, and schools, taking existing programs to expand and build upon, starting initially with a school class based competition, expanding slowly responding to demand, being flexible to situational needs, adapting frequently and always succeeding.The success of the Lions Mad Minute competition in schools is the result of the willing collaborative efforts of Lions, their helpers and the wonderful support from the teachers and students of those schools.The support of District Education Officers and their staff has been crucial to the conduct of this competition assisting schools to incorporate the competition into the curriculum. Private schools have taken a similar approach.The competition has two discreet phases. In the Limestone Coast region, the individual Lions Club led school based competitions occur in Term 2 weeks 6 and 7 and the Grand Challenge inter school competition at Zone / Region level in Term 2 week 9. These times have been adjudged as best for introduction of the program into schools, allow for schools to plan accordingly and for training sessions to be conducted by Lions if required and for students to practice and prepare for the competition within the classroom structure.
Initial contact with schools occurs early in the year when the updated questions sets are released to schools by Lions Club Mad Minute coordinators.All the relevant requirements and expectations with regards to HWS issues, visiting schools, clearance checks etc as required by State Legislation for dealing vulnerable groups and children and any further required by individual schools were complied with. Currently in SA a National Police Certificate is not required.
Score sheets – all levels
Class category certificate
Class winnerGrand Challenge Participation
Grand Challenge School Division Winner
Program Grand Challenge
Class participation certificate Picture medals Grand Challenge Individual winner
