Eisteddfod squad coaching
Live online sessions with your entrants, individually or in small groups, from piece selection through to competition-ready.
- Syllabus-matched piece selection
- Weekly through the season
- Sessions recorded for the learners
For Schools
Specialist support for your entrants.
Online eisteddfod, speaking and debate coaching for South African schools — delivered live by a practising national adjudicator, alongside your own Creative Arts staff.
Taught by a national eisteddfod adjudicator
Competing since age eight
Live online, anywhere in South Africa
In English & Afrikaans
Current status. Fortitudo Studios Drama is delivering all coaching online during 2026. School programmes are therefore run live over Microsoft Teams — which works well for eisteddfod squads, speaking coaching and staff workshops, and requires no travel budget on your side. On-site delivery in Gauteng is planned but is not being offered yet, and I will not contract for something I cannot currently deliver.
The problem we solve
Specialist knowledge your staff should not have to invent.
Most schools have capable Creative Arts teachers who are already carrying a full load. What they usually lack is not talent but current, competition-side knowledge: what this year's syllabus rewards, where entrants lose marks they did not know were available, and how a piece should be timed and presented.
That is exactly what an adjudicator has. I work as specialist support alongside your staff, not as a replacement for them.
What is offered
Three online formats.
Public speaking & debate
Coaching your Redenaars entrants, debating team and prefect body in argument construction and delivery.
- Block-intensive or weekly
- Leadership-speech preparation
- Mock adjudication panels
Teacher workshops
A workshop for your own staff on adjudication criteria — what earns marks, what quietly loses them, and how to prepare an entrant.
- Half-day online format
- Adjudication mark sheets explained
- Practical, not theoretical
Commercials
Straightforward contracting.
| Item | Detail |
|---|---|
| Delivery | Live online via Microsoft Teams; no travel cost, no venue required |
| Rate | R600 per delivered hour, invoiced to the school |
| Contract term | Per term, per semester or annual — your budget cycle, not mine |
| Materials | Scripts, anthologies and learner handbooks included |
| Reporting | Written termly report to the cultural head or deputy |
| Recordings | Shared with the school and the learner's parents only; deleted at term end |
| Vetting | Police clearance, NRSO and NCPR (Form 30) applications are in progress. Certificates will be supplied before any contract begins, and I will not start a school programme without them. |
| Trial | One free online demonstration session for a single grade or squad, before any contract is signed |
Common questions
What governing bodies usually ask.
Are you vetted to work with children?
Applications for police clearance, National Register for Sex Offenders (NRSO) clearance and National Child Protection Register (NCPR, Form 30) clearance are in progress. Certificates will be provided before any school programme begins — I will not start without them, and I would encourage you to ask any provider for the same.
You adjudicate. Is that a problem for our entrants?
It is handled in writing. I do not adjudicate any section in which a learner I coach is entered, and I declare every coached learner to the organisers in advance. The full policy is published and forms part of the school contract.
Does online really work for a school squad?
For eisteddfod and speaking preparation, yes. The work is close-focus — interpretation, timing, voice, stillness — which is what a camera captures well. It also means a rural school can access the same coaching as a Pretoria one. Full-stage ensemble work is the exception, and I will say so.
Can you work alongside our existing drama teacher?
That is the intended arrangement. I work as specialist eisteddfod and speaking support alongside a school's own Creative Arts staff, rather than replacing them.
What about POPIA?
Learner information is processed under a written agreement with the school, held only as long as needed, and never shared. Session recordings go to the school and the learner's parents only. The privacy notice sets out the detail.
Schools