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Thursday, 13 July 2023 11:46

By Olivia Briggs  @oliviabriggs

Year six students across Greater Manchester took part in a mock court trial as they battled it out in a court room setting to be crowned winners.

The annual event is staged by Greater Manchester Magistrates in the community.

The competition took place in Salford with 15 schools competing from across Greater Manchester battling it out to be crowned winners.

The three Tameside schools competing were St Anne’s Primary School, Denton West End Primary School and Micklehurst All Saints School.

In order to have a chance of winning, the participants had to act out a trial where they played all the major roles in a courtroom, becoming solicitors, magistrates, defendants and witnesses.

The theme this year was cyber bullying, and the mock courtroom followed the journey of the accused ‘Sonia Reed’. The students had to decide whether the character was guilty or not guilty of charges of online bullying.

During this process, one school acted out the roles of the defence and the other of the prosecution, while the real life magistrates judged the children on their inquisitive skills as well as their intuition.

Mary-Liz Walker JP DL was in attendance as the newly appointed High Sheriff. She stated: “I am delighted to be part of this unique competition providing students with an opportunity to work as a team, demonstrate their abilities in verbal reasoning as well as gaining valuable experience and confidence in speaking in public.

“These mock trials are also a wonderful and fun way to reinforce what children learn about citizenship and the importance of the rule of law. I have previously been involved with these competitions in my capacity as a magistrate, so I know first-hand how much the children who competed then enjoyed and learned from the day. I am sure the schools participating will enjoy the competition and remember it as one of the highlights of their school year.”

In a surprise announcement she presented a citation to the Greater Manchester Magistrates in the Community Team.

Rachel Medcalf JP, who helped to organise the event, said: “It’s a very exciting day for the students. It’s a great opportunity for them to see inside the legal world and it might inspire them to think more about their futures.”

She said: “It’s such a pleasure to share in another Year 6 Mock Trial Competition and I am delighted to present my High Sheriff award in recognition of so many years of dedicated service to communities across Greater Manchester by this wonderful group of magistrate volunteers.”

For anybody interested in a career in law, Rachel told us: “There’s lots of different avenues into this job and any- one can come into a magistrates’ court and see what happens, which gives you a better idea of what’s going on.”

The winners of the competition overall were Well Green Primary from Hale and the runners-up were Button Lane Primary School, Wythenshawe.

There was good news for Tameside with the Court Artist winner named as Eve Lambert from Denton West End Primary School. The Court Reporter winner was named as Lois Oldfield, from Saint Thomas’ CE Primary School, Stockport.

• Competing schools: St Paul’s Peel C of E Primary School, Salford; Whit- taker Moss Primary School, Rochdale; St Peter’s C of E, Tameside (two teams); St Anne’s Primary School, Tameside; Denton West End Primary School, Tameside; Button Lane Primary School, Manchester; Park Road Sale Primary School, Trafford; Well Green Primary School, Trafford; Bow- don Church School, Trafford; Moss Park Primary School, Trafford, Ince CE Primary School, Wigan; Adswood Primary School, Stockport; St Thomas’ CE, Stockport; Micklehurst All Saints School, Tameside; St Vincent’s Catholic Primary School, Trafford.

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