A PAIR of silver-tongued high school students have triumphed over their rivals to win a district-wide debating contest.

Roding Valley High School pupils Fraser Barclay and Jonathan Schroder, both 15, impressed a panel of judges to win the Epping Forest Schools Parliamentary Debating Competition, organised by MP Eleanor Laing.

Seven schools took part in the competition, held at Debden Park High School, which saw teams argue for or against the motion 'this house believes that Britain's interests would have been better served by the election of Mitt Romney rather than Barack Obama as President of the United States of America'.

Fraser said: "I just found it such an enjoyable experience. I’ve never done this sort of thing before."

Headteacher Paul Banks added students had worked 'incredibly hard' to prepare for the debate.

"This is the second time in three years where Roding Valley has won the debate and I am very proud of the efforts of all the students involved," he said.