Donald Dewar Memorial Debate Tournament 2019/20 Teams win opening round of national debating tournament
Pupils from 32 teams from schools across Scotland are through to the second stage of the Law Society of Scotland’s national debating tournament. The winning teams successfully put forward their arguments to the motion, ‘This House would introduce compulsory National Civic Service for all 15 and 16 year olds’.
The annual Donald Dewar Memorial Debating Tournament is now in its 21st year and is the biggest competition of its kind in Scotland, with 64 teams putting their powers of persuasion to the test in the opening round.
Lyndsey Thomson, Careers and Outreach Coordinator at the Law Society, said: “We’ve had an excellent start to this year’s Donald Dewar Debating Tournament with high standards of debating being demonstrated in the first round. It’s great to see that one of the successful teams is from a school taking part in the competition for the first time.
“Many schools now have debating clubs and they really encourage pupils to learn how to build convincing arguments and give them a voice to express their views and opinions. Debating is a great skill to have and it’s been really encouraging to see so many schools entering teams in the tournament this year.”
Second-round heats will take place in January and the semi-finals will be held in early spring before the grand final in June.
The Law Society awards first place a prize of £1,000, and the top two teams will share educational books to the value of £500 donated by the event sponsor, Hodder Gibson.
If you have experience of debating and would be interested in getting involved as a judge, please contact debate@lawscot.org.uk. Further information about judging in the tournament can also be found at www.lawscot.org.uk/debating. The second-round heats will take place on Thursday 23 and Tuesday 28 January.
Round-one winners
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Winning team 1 |
Winning team 2 |
Best Floor Speech |
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Albyn School Simi Ogedengbe & Rachel Gallagher |
Banchory Academy Josei McGarvey & Yasmin Shiels |
Theo Goke-Dabiri Albyn School |
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St Columba’s High School Keira Bayne & Grace Dewar |
Grove Academy Charlotte Rome & Iris Nicoll |
Keira Bayne St Columba’s High School |
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Kinross High School David Cormack & Freya Corcoran |
Balfron High School Curtis McLerie & Finn Thompson |
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The Mary Erskine School Emily Couper & Jessica Smith |
Peebles High School William Adams & Mari Kiniham |
Lachlan Mackay Forrester High School |
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Broxburn Academy Meg Wishart & Ruby Ferguson |
Clifton Hall School Jack Bamber & Toby Appleyard |
Joseph Scott Kelvinside Academy |
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Uddingston Grammar School Andrew Halyburton & Euan O’Curry |
Hamilton Grammar School Laura Ford & Faith Downie |
Harry Mackle St Andrew’s & St Bride’s School |
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Clydebank High School * Amelia Dalziel & Michael Newman |
Our Lady & St Patrick’s High School Eve Shiels & Aidan Lynn |
Clydebank High School Eve McDougall-Page |
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Douglas Academy Chloe Beardsley & Orla Vennard |
St Andrew’s Academy Kate Quinn & Lucy Halliday |
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Thurso High School Aidan Urquhart &Ross Dunbar |
Fortrose Academy Edie Matthewson & Thomas Fox |
Kyle Leavesley Thurso High School |
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Meldrum Academy Kabelo Kepadisa & Amelia Patterson |
St Margaret’s School for Girls Liberty Mountain & Eleanor Burnett-Stuart |
Emily Keith Meldrum Academy |
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Stirling High School Heather Cook & Japjeet Sond |
Strathallan School Chloe McMichael & Magnus Moody |
Amy Wilson Stirling High School |
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The Royal High School Emma Shopland & Laura Young |
Craigmount High School Freddie Simmonet-Lefevre & Kiran Bodasing |
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The High School of Glasgow Doaa Shabir & Sophia Alvi |
Rosshall Academy Sophie Crawford & Leia Mciloy |
Leia Mciloy Rosshall Academy |
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Wellington School Meera Mohankrishnan & Anubha Bal |
Biggar High School Coll McCail & Fin Laing |
Emma Stevenson Wellington School |
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Duncanrig Secondary School Erin Stewart & Ross Cooper |
Holy Cross High School Holly Biggar & Kittie Maslanka |
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Bearsden Academy Fraser Stevenson & Matthew Burke |
Williamwood High School Aribah Chaudhry & Mia McLuskie |
Ali Pagganwalla Woodfarm High School |
Additional
