Gateways School students are runners up in Mock Trial competition

Gateways School students are runners up in Mock Trial competition

On Saturday 23rd June, a group of Gateways Year 8 and Year 9 students took part in The West Yorkshire Independent School Magistrates Mock Trial competition at Leeds Magistrates court.

The Gateways team of thirteen students were competing against five other schools in the region – Queen Elizabeth Grammar School, Wakefield Girls’ High School, Silcoates, Huddersfield Grammar School and the Grammar School at Leeds. Each school’s team were allocated roles with members acting as the defendant and a defence witness, two prosecution witnesses, three magistrates, two defence lawyers, two prosecution lawyers, a legal adviser and court usher.

The teams then took part in two trials – one in which they were defending and one in which they were prosecuting. The fictional case that the teams tried was of a defendant charged with handling stolen goods. The teams were required to act out a trial, lasting around 45 minutes, including the questioning and cross-examination of witnesses, opening and closing remarks and the final judgment on whether the defendant is guilty or not guilty.

The Gateways team were runners up to Silcoates school who won the competition. Lesley Wood, Head of Middle School at Gateways, who accompanied the students with colleague Sue Finan, Head of History, said: “We ran workshops at lunchtimes to prepare the girls on areas such as cross-examining, but all the students presented and tried their cases without any help from adults on the day. They were judged by the magistrates on very strict marking criteria including how you present your case, conduct in court and keeping within the time limits. Our girls did extremely well in the competition; they were all proud of their performance and thoroughly enjoyed the experience.”