Pupils enjoyed an exciting first knock-out round of the Inter-House Debating Competition...

Lyon vs Priory

Monday morning saw an excellent debate between Lyon and Priory House. Lyon were proposing the motion of ‘This House believes that social media oppresses more than it empowers’. Both teams had completed a considerable amount of research to support their arguments and this ensured that both houses were able to argue their corner and really examine the motion. Having learnt from previous rounds, the standard of debating was very high with effective rebuttals from both teams and excellent presentation and speaking skills on display. Whilst the Priory team of Katie, Katie and Tilda were very impressive and spoke incredibly well, they were pipped to victory by the Lyon House team of Alex, Isaac and Joe. Both Isaac and Alex in particular were outstanding and demonstrated excellent debating skills and strategy through effective rebuttals, the use of points of information and responding quickly and sharply to counteract the opposing teams arguments. Well done to both teams!

Dan Cupit - Deputy Head, Academic

New vs Old

New and Old clashed in a debate on the merits of social media. There was great passion from all taking part and it was evident that issue was close to the hearts of the young men on the stage. Gabriel made the humorous and thought-provoking point that the title of the debate had been selected by a generation other than his own and it demonstrated the suspicion and misconceptions which contribute to the negative view of social media found amongst adults. Unfortunately, these engaging points were not enough to overcome the showmanship displayed by New House, who are moving on to the semi-finals. Congratulations to all who took part. 

Duncan Ericson - English Teacher

Wellesley vs Arion

Monday saw Wellesley House take on Arion in the first knock-out round of the Inter-House Debating. In a lively discussion the two sides argued the pitfalls and merits of social media. Both sides produced a well-researched and indeed rehearsed argument, containing a good deal of valuable and insightful material. Both sides were adjudged to be at a dead heat in the categories of Style and Content which meant that Strategy became central to establishing the result. Here, Wellesley pulled ahead making good use of Points of Information and presenting the more confident and convincing argument. The final scores were Wellesley 39, Arion, 37.  

Mark Hambleton - Head of English

Flickr album: Inter-House Debating - 1st Knockout Round - 27th January 2020 | Height: auto | Theme: Default