London is calling for a group of legally-minded students who have made it to the national finals of a prestigious competition.

A tough day of competition at the Crown Court in Norwich resulted in a team our school triumph in the Eastern Regional Heats for the Young Citizens Bar Mock Trial competition.

We have seen international success at its first time of asking. Students won their way through to competing in Chicago in the Empire Mock Trial World Championship last year.

All the students involved put in hard work outside of school hours to ensure they are as prepared as possible for the competition.

This year is the second time a group of our students are taking part, and when school returns after the Christmas break they will begin fundraising for their trip to London and the national finals which are expected to be held in the spring.

There were three rounds in the Norwich heat, with the prosecution team completing two rounds and the defence team one. Each student was awarded a score out of ten for their performance by the judge. Criteria included clarity, argument quality, accuracy and timekeeping.

The St Clement’s team competed against seven others, most of which were sixth-form students - the contest is for young people aged 15 to 18.

Abby Morton, Head of Citizenship, said the competition was important for students as they benefit from gaining an in-depth knowledge of the criminal law system while seeing the same case from two different perspectives - the prosecution and defence.

Students take on the roles of prosecution and defence lawyers as well as judges and even court staff for the ‘trials’ in the competition created by the Young Citizens organisation. Students are given resources, including written cases, to help them prepare their legal arguments.

“For those who study GSCE Citizenship, this knowledge will help them with their exam preparation, but for all those who took part, they will find the skills they have used useful, for example critical thinking, formulating arguments and how to support ideas with evidence,” she added.

A former student and member of the international team at the school, Olivia Simms, made ‘invaluable contributions’ to the current team by mentoring members and guiding them on how to prepare.

The competition is also important to help develop self-belief and confidence in the participants, said Ms Morton.

“It is important for the confidence it has given these students to not only take part in a prestigious event, but also to realise that with enough hard work and determination, they were able to succeed in their goal to get to the nationals!”