Princess Helena College

The last day of term began with the Inter-House Public Speaking competition which was compered by Dr Hooper. All three houses entered junior and senior teams and the quality of all entrants was superb.

The competition started with Gloucester senior team, and Lucy Bonner introduced the discussion on the cost of university fees. Rebecca Day entertainingly pointed out what else she could buy with a year's fees, while Stephanie Georgiou controversially questioned both the veracity of politicians and the salaries of Vice Chancellors.

Windsor was then represented by Emma Lewis, Felicity Margerreson and their speaker Rachel Helman, on the topic of "Image is Everything". The speakers covered a wide range of subjects from JFK's first televised debate and PHC's prospectus to Aleksandr Orlov.

Finally, York's senior team spoke passionately about sexism in sport, with Beth Carle calling for gender neutral coverage to inspire more girls to participate in sport. She was ably supported by Frankie Knight, in the guise of a Sky Sports presenter, and Camilla Walton.

Gloucester's junior team spoke about school dinners, a subject clearly close to their hearts! Tara Bessell introduced the topic entertainingly, while CP Snow gave an information-packed critique of attempts to encourage healthy eating amongst school children. Kitt Spicer gave the vote of thanks, celebrating the popularity of the tuck shop.

Windsor's second team's topic was "Love Thy Neighbour", introduced by Ellie Cornberg. Lucy Thomas then spoke eloquently on the importance of this value across all major religions. Lauren Brown finished by making a connection between human rights and this belief.

The competition ended with the York junior team talking about the benefits of time travel, from the point of view of future time travellers. Annie Gale-Burnett spoke as a scientist from the future, while Emily Guthrie called for us all to live in this moment. Eleanor Hosford concluded by claiming that she would prefer to leave the future to her imagination.

After these excellent speeches, the judges (Mrs Wilson, Mr Miller and Mrs Kerr) commended all those involved and announced the results:

Seniors:

York
Gloucester and Windsor

Juniors:

Windsor
York
Gloucester

The award for Outstanding Speaker went to Lucy Thomas (Windsor).

At the end of the Spring Term, the total points, including these results, were as follows:

Windsor - 2,101
Gloucester - 1,981
York - 1,890

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