Third-year students Beth Dalrymple and Katie Orr won the prestigious contest beating teams from The Royal High School, Edinburgh, and Shawlands Academy from Glasgow in the final at Parliament House in Edinburgh.

This year’s competition involved 178 pupils forming 89 teams from 57 schools across Scotland.

The topic for the final was: “The most pressing equality issue in Scotland today is…. to address it I would….”

The judges were Ruth Charteris, KC, solicitor general; Scott Pattison, sheriff and temporary High Court judge and Lesslie Young, chief executive, Epilepsy Scotland.

And they were each hugely impressed by the quality of the speaking.

Presenting the trophy to the winners, Ms Charteris said: “Huge congratulations to Beth and Katie on their success. All those taking part provided excellent examples of public speaking. Each and every one of you should be incredibly proud of yourselves. You have made your schools proud and your families proud.

“It has been a pleasure to see pupils come together in the spirit of friendly competition to develop confidence in their public speaking skills while addressing important issues relating to diversity and equality.”

The victory marks the first time a school from the sheriffdom of North Strathclyde has triumphed in the long-running and popular competition.

Beth said: “I cannot believe we have won. We are just so pleased and shocked. It feels a bit surreal. We have exceeded all our expectations.”

Katie added: “When we were announced as the winners, my jaw just dropped. It was an amazing feeling, and we are just so proud to be the first school from Clydebank to win.”