Local pupils win through to national debating tournament final

Just four of the original 128 teams that entered the Donald Dewar Memorial Debating Tournament will take part in the final of the competition. To get to this stage the students have already had to tackle topics such as compensation for historical injustice, whether the internet does more harm than good and if the BBC should be privatised.

The finalists are:

Adam McGirr and Luke MacPhee from St Maurice’s High School(Cumbernauld)

Laura Wood and Sarah Gardner from the Royal High School (Edinburgh)

Caitlin Sherret and Findlay Allmond from Nairn Academy (Nairn)

Andrew Buchan and Ross Heenan from Braes High School (Falkirk)

Teams from over 100 Scottish schools put their powers of persuasion to the test in the opening rounds of the competition and the second round prompted heated discussion from the remaining teams but the semi-finals stepped the competition up a notch as the students were only presented with the motion an hour before the debate took place.

St Maurice’s High School hosted and won last night’s semi-final debate. The motion asked whether England should have its own parliament. SLN assistant editor Kapil Summan, who attended the debate, said: “All of the pupils performed well but Adam and Luke gave a stellar performance and rightly deserve their place in the finals this year.”

The final of this year’s competition will take place in the debating chamber of the Scottish Parliament on 9 June.

The winning team will be presented with the tournament trophy and £1,000 for their school from the Law Society, while tournament sponsors Hodder Gibson will present the winners and runners up with educational books to the value of £500.

For more information about the Donald Dewar Memorial Debating Tournament, visit www.lawscot.org.uk/debating or follow @lawscot#DewarDebate on Twitter.