The second annual Inter-House Debating Competition took place at Pipers during the last week of the Autumn Term. Four teams of girls competed for the sought after Debating Shield arguing as part of the proposition or opposition for one of following two motions: "This House would ban alcohol" (Mandeville vs. Hampden) and "This House would never go to war" (Milton vs. Penn).

The afternoon saw a great deal of deliberation as each side in both debates put across their arguments in a structured and thoughtful way. In the first motion the proposers, Mandeville, urged the watching audience of teachers and girls to consider the devastating effects of alcohol and used examples of addiction and drink driving statistics to drive home their points. Hampden countered Mandeville's arguments by insisting that prohibition would cause more problems than it would solve.

During discussions in the second motion, the proposers, Milton, warned of the deadly nature of modern warfare and suggested that there were many peaceful alternatives to war, such as mediation and sanctions. As part of their counter arguments the opposition, Penn, maintained that discussion with dictators was simply not possible and cited a number of historical examples where the consequences of no military action could have been disastrous.

Following questions and summing up on both debates the general consensus from the floor meant that both motions were defeated. At the end of the debates it was the job of the judging panel to decide which of the Houses had argued their points most persuasively and so deserved the title of debating champions. The winning House was named as Mandeville – for the second consecutive year!

In summing up Headmistress and judge Mrs Ness-Gifford said, "We have been very impressed by the extremely well structured and persuasive speeches we have heard from the Houses today. Each team had prepared their notes very well and used them intelligently in order to get their points across. I was particularly impressed by the way that the teams seemingly handled points of information effortlessly and were able to respond to questions in a mature, level-headed and articulate way."

**ENDS**

For more information contact:
Fran Knight, Marketing and Communications Manager, Pipers Corner School. Telephone 01494 719 850 or email fknight@piperscorner.co.uk

Photo shows:
One of the debates in progress