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The Stopfordian 2011–2012 insult and to encourage as many as possible members of the Lower School to attend. After some agonising, we formulated the motion as follows: ‘This House believes that using the word ‘gay’ as an insult is never acceptable.’ Harry Allport and Josh Smith argued very sensitively and convincingly for the motion but the moral arguments were on this occasion unable to win the day, and our younger pupils supported the more populist views of Tom Fawcett and Sam Allport that the use of the term ‘gay’ in a negative context is innocuous. In November SGS hosted the first round of the English Speaking Union Schools Mace Debating competition. The motion allocated to Stockport Grammar was ‘This House would ban computer games that require the user to simulate a violent criminal act,’ and Tom Fawcett and Sam Allport were chosen to represent SGS, opposing the motion. A somewhat anomalous situation arose in this round owing to a team from a school (no names mentioned) dropping out at the eleventh hour. SGS had to provide a ‘dummy’ team, hence Tom and Sam found themselves competing against their own peers, namely, Jamie Rahman and Quintus Carr, who had one day to prepare a seven minute speech. This was an extremely lively, entertaining debate, with Tom and Sam arguing with a passion borne of a genuine belief in their viewpoint. Jamie Rahman bewitched the audience with his humour and flamboyant style while Quintus provided gravitas to the SGS teams with his slow, deliberate style. All gave impressive performances and Sam and Tom were awarded first place, while Jamie and Quintus took second place with Alsager School and Newcastle-Under-Lyne coming third and fourth, respectively. In the second round, which took place at Silverdale School in Sheffield in February, Tom and Sam faced stiff competition from Silverdale School and, although they put up a creditable performance, opposing the motion that harsher punishments should be imposed on celebrities who commit crimes, in the end they lost to Silverdale. Debates this year have been inspired by philosophy, politics, economics, social issues and international events. ‘This House believes that free will is an illusion’ was proposed by Sam Allport and Tom Fawcett while Zoe Harris and Joanna Boon opposed it and the motion was passed. On the international front, we debated, ‘This House supports military intervention in Syria’ and ‘Iran is being unfairly treated over its nuclear armament programme.’ Other lively debates were, ‘Cannabis should be legalised’, ‘Plastic surgery for cosmetic purposes should be banned’, ‘Religion is a force for good,’ and ‘ The top rate of tax should be reduced from fifty to fortyfive percent.’ While debates can become heated and competitive, and chairpersons have to intervene quite forcibly at times, our debaters, to their credit, never overstep the boundaries of decorum and generally remain good-humoured in the face of defeat. S. J. Braude MFL DEBATE: GERMAN Shelby Whyatt and I represented Stockport Grammar School in the MFL Debate in November 2011 which was, to our shock, something of a success. Preparation for the debate was, without a doubt, intense; in order for us to defeat the opponents, who in recent years had triumphed over us, it was necessary for Shelby and I to meticulously plan each and every debate title (8 altogether), making sure there were no gaps in our arguments which our opposition could exploit and use against us. No, we were simply not having it this year; we were not going to be humiliated. After weeks of scrupulous preparation, the day of the debate drew ever nearer. The morning of 5 th November was filled with wracked nerves from all sections of the Languages Department, teachers and pupils alike! In the first round of the competition, the first debate of the day in fact (therefore added pressure), Shelby and I were against Bolton Girls’ School. The topic of debate was “Defend yourself and your property at any cost!” The planning and preparation paid off, as Shelby and I prevailed over our opponents. In the second round we were pitted against the Bolton Boys’ School and, after having obliterated their female peers with relative ease, we could detect that they were somewhat shaky. Things heated up as we advanced to the semi-finals. Our adversaries from the King’s School Chester were significantly tougher than our foes in the early stages in the competition. The debate was fierce, and didn’t seem to end. However, when the results had been announced, to our amazement we had advanced to the final round of the competition. The final round of the debate was ferocious; one could almost feel the heat emitted from the intensity of the arguments, from both us and our opponents, Cheadle Hulme. At the end, after having left the room, Shelby and I could hear people’s conversations, talk of a “close one”. Either side was in with a good chance of winning. Unfortunately, we had been defeated by our opponents, yet we held our heads high with pride. After all, we did not expect to reach the final stages of the competition. The experience of being able to debate in a foreign language was fantastic, and I would recommend giving it a shot to all linguists in years below. I extend my thanks to Frau Christmann, for putting in an inhumane number of hours work to further our success and to Miss Gibson for coming along to support us. Jack Heaton (U9) 42 Activities and Awards
The Stopfordian 2011–2012 RUSSIAN ESSAY COMPETITION Jack Heaton, U6, who has been learning Russian for 3 years in the Russian lunchtime Club, took part in the Sixth National Russian Essay Competition 2012, which received entries from 390 candidates. He wrote an excellent essay about the Russian scientist Mendeleev and won the special prize for “Thorough research of the subject”. The results of the competition with the names of all winners will be printed in the forthcoming issue of Rusistika. Jack is now studying Russian and German at Leeds University. K. Christmann SIR RHYS DAVIES MOCK TRIAL COMPETITION The Sir Rhys Davies Mock Trial Competition takes place every November and gives SGS’s Sixth Formers the chance to try a case in front of professional judges at Manchester Crown Court. The barristers are in wigs and gowns and the witnesses in fancy dress. This year, the team achieved the outstanding feat of coming runners-up, having won their group earlier in the day. All our teams performed outstandingly well, with Arran Mackay and Suzy Eames defeating St Bede’s and the Dickensian combination of Fawcett and Earley seeing off their opposition. In the final trial, it was all to play for, with Abi Jones and Eleanor Harper inflicting a rare defeat on Altrincham Girls’ to secure our top spot, reducing the opposition to tears in the process. It’s serious business! There was an anxious wait to find out if Manchester Grammar had knocked us out of the final, but by the margin of one point, we were there. Andrew Ward and Emily Cheyne stepped up in the final, but were narrowly defeated into second place. Andrew described the experience as ‘terrifying but exhilarating’ which just about sums up the day, alongside fun and slightly surreal. Combined with Charlotte Rowe’s victory in the Law Reporting Competition, where she had to watch a trial and then had an hour to write a newspaper report summing up what had happened, it was a successful day for SGS. Many thanks and congratulations to all the barristers, witnesses, ushers and journalists who contributed. S. A. Moore Activities and Awards 43
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Page 4 and 5: The Stopfordian 2011-2012 EDITORIAL
Page 6 and 7: The Stopfordian 2011-2012 STOCKPORT
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