There was a great deal of excitement at Pipers on the last day of Term as the first Inter-House debating competition took place. Consisting of two motions: "This House believes that Britain is no longer great" (Penn vs. Mandeville) and "This House believes that the pen is mightier than the sword" (Hampden vs. Milton), four teams of Sixth Formers competed for the coveted Debating Shield.

The motions were eagerly discussed with the proposition and opposition sides in both debates demonstrating the large amount of research that had been put in prior to the event and the thought processes behind their arguments for and against the motions. Both debates were opened up to the floor to allow the watching girls and teachers to ask questions and put forward their opinions.

At the end of the afternoon the first motion was defeated with the majority of people voting that Britain is still great. The second motion however was something of a stalemate with the audience voting 50/50 for each side.

At the end of the debates it was the unenviable task of the Headmistress, Mrs Ness-Gifford, to select the winning team – the one which she believed had put forward their arguments in the most persuasive way. She decided that Mandeville had put on the most impressive display and praised the way they had responded to interjections from the other team and the clear and reasoned way in which they put their opinions across.

Following the presentation of the shield and speaking to all the girls she said, "I feel very strongly that it is important that you have your own opinions. Taking part in debates like this will help you to develop ideas and express your opinions in a measured and thoughtful way. It can be daunting to speak in front of an audience, particularly when debating in public for the very first time so many congratulations are due to all the girls who argued their points today and managed to respond to questions from the floor in a mature and sensible 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

Picture shows: A debate in progress