Kendrick Wins The Magistrates' Court Mock Trial Competition
On Saturday, 16th March, our school participated in the Magistrates' Mock Trial Competition held at the Crown Court in Reading. We came in first place after competing against 8 schools from all over Berkshire. A team of 18 Year 9 students, including 4 students participating in a separate but related competition, attended.
The Magistrates' Mock Trial competition aims at giving students an insight into how the legal justice system works. The teams have to prepare legal arguments for both prosecution and defence for a case given to them and then participate in heats against other schools. Their performance during both defence and prosecution is evaluated and marked. To prepare for this event, our team worked extremely hard and practised both during and after school with the support and guidance of Ms. Heath and Ms. Mayers.
On the day of the competition, although well-prepared, we felt very nervous, but as the defence team presented their case, we started feeling confident and began enjoying the competition. While one side was presenting the case, the rest of the team along with Ms. Kattirtzi, Ms. Hyde, Ms. Heath and Ms. Mayers supported them. Both our defence and prosecution arguments for the case, which was about determining whether a passenger assaulted the taxi driver, went well.
Finally, when the results were announced and Kendrick came first, the scream was absolutely deafening. Later, we took multiple group photos to capture our achievement and everyone was extremely happy that our hard work paid off.
All in all, the competition was a great success but, beyond that, it was an amazing opportunity to learn about how the judicial system works, and we look forward to competing in the regional finals which will be held on 18th May.