This house believes students win place in final of debating contest

The youngsters from Craigmount High will now compete against other students from across Scotland at the Donald Dewar Memorial Debating Tournament. They will join Stewart’s Melville at the Law Society of Scotland event, due to take place next month.

Heather McKendrick, development officer in the organisation’s education and training department, said: “The semi-finals are very tricky as the teams are only presented with the motion they are to debate that day, so have very little time to prepare their arguments and they are not permitted any access to newspapers, computers or smartphones. It really tests their skills as debaters.”

Pupils from Stewart’s Melville College won their place in the final earlier this month. James Marchant and Andrew Niven succeeded in a semi-final debate held at Craigmount High for their convincing case opposing the motion, ‘This House would punish celebrities found guilty of crimes more harshly than normal offenders’.

The annual competition is now the biggest schools’ debating tournament in Scotland.