Peebles pupils win national debating tournament

Mhairi Sinclair and Helen Whalley from Peebles High School won the final of the Law Society of Scotland’s Donald Dewar Memorial Debating Tournament last night, Thursday 7 June and earned the title of Scotland’s best young debaters.

Mhairi and Helen proposed the motion ‘This House believes that physician assisted suicide should be legalised’ in the Scottish Parliament’s debating chamber.

To get to this stage of the competition, the students have already tackled topics such as whether ‘democratic countries should boycott the 2018 World Cup in Russia’, ‘if monuments to controversial figures should be removed’ and whether ‘gender quotas should be introduced in parliament’.

Fraser MacDonald and Luca Delpipo from Perth High School were the runners up and Holly McLeod and Aidan Fuge from Strathallan School and Sandy Macdonald and Lucas Higham from Lenzie Academy also competed in the final.

Many of the students from schools across Scotland who took part in one of the three previous rounds of this year’s tournament were in the audience for the final and pupils from Glasgow Gaelic School, High School of Dundee, Hutcheson’s Grammar School, Kilgraston School, Perth Academy, St Andrew’s & St Bride’s High School and Wellington School took part in the floor debate. Riya Banjeree from Hutchesons’ Grammar was awarded a £50 book token for the best floor speech.

Deputy Presiding Officer, Linda Fabiani MSP, said: “Chairing this debate was a real pleasure. Despite such a demanding topic all of the participants showed themselves to be articulate and insightful debaters. With particular congratulations to Helen and Mhairi, from Peebles High school, this year’s winners. It would be no surprise to see some of this year’s finalists back in this Chamber in a few years’ time!”

First proposition speaker for Peebles High School and tournament winner, Mhairi Sinclair, said: “We’ve only been debating for eighteen months and this was our first competition, so we never even expected to get to the final.  We have come up against some incredibly stiff competition, so needless to say, we are completely thrilled to have won.”

Helen Whalley, second proposition speaker for the winning team said: “We have enjoyed every second of the tournament, it’s been just amazing and we really want to thank our fab English teachers, Mrs Mooney and Miss Hyatt - we couldn’t have done it without your support.”

Alison Atack, president of the Law Society of Scotland said: “I have been absolutely amazed by the quality of debate displayed in this year’s final and am delighted to congratulate Helen and Mhairi on their remarkable performances. 

“Their success is well deserved and all of the 128 schools who have taken part in this year’s competition should be incredibly proud of themselves. I would also like to congratulate the six other finalists who were more than worthy opponents and debating their way all the way to the final is a fantastic achievement. 

“Many thanks too, to the Deputy Presiding Officer, Linda Fabiani MSP, for doing such an excellent job of chairing the debate, our judges who rose to the challenge of identifying the winning team, our parliament colleagues for hosting this tremendous event and of course everyone who took part and supported the tournament.”

Law firm TC Young and publishers Hodder Gibson sponsored the event. Helen and Mhairi were presented with the tournament trophy and £1,000 for their school from the Law Society. Runners up received £250 from the Glasgow Bar Association. All finalists received book tokens and individual quaichs to commemorate their success and tournament sponsors, Hodder Gibson Publishers, donated educational books to the value of £500, to be shared by the winners and runners-up. A prize of £50 worth of book vouchers was also awarded to Riya Banjeree for the best floor speech of the night.

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