Marr College: 3 December 2008

Dec 5 2008

LAST Saturday, pupils from Marr College took part in the regional heats for the Bar National Mock Trial Competition. The trials took place at Glasgow High Court of Judiciary and were attended by 14 other schools.

The day commenced with the trial of Her Majesty’s Advocate vs Jackie Jones, a case of dangerous driving. Ewan McQueen and Hannah Allison acted as the prosecution and two pupils from Belmont Academy appeared on behalf of the accused. Marr pupils Liam Jennings and Hayley McLennan acted as prosecution witnesses and Jonathan Lappin acted as Clerk to Court. Ewan and Hannah presented a good case and the jury returned a Guilty verdict. Despite the jury finding the case in Marr College’s favour, the judge decided to award Belmont Academy the round.

Round two commenced after tea and coffee. In this trial, Ewan and Hannah appeared again as the prosecution in Her Majesty’s Advocate vs Sam Miller. Facing Larbert High, the pair tried to convince the jury that Sam Miller (played by a Larbert pupil), was guilty of Breach of the Peace. The jury, sadly, returned a verdict of Not Proven, acquitting Sam Millar. Once again, the round was won by the opposing school. Alexis Florides and Scot Pairman also appeared in this case as witnesses and Jonathan Lappin re-appeared as the court clerk.

The third trial was a repeat of the first. Leanne Gallacher and Jemma Brown appeared as the defence advocates against Meldrum Academy. Liam Jennings acted as a defence witness and Jonathan Gallacher was the accused. John Snoddy also helped as Macer. The case and round were won by Meldrum Academy.

Even though Marr lost their rounds, we enjoyed the wisdom of Craig Murray, an advocate who gave all competitors tremendous help in preparation and delivery.

Your Court Reporter was Fiona Smith.

MARR College pupils have raised over £2000 for various charities during the last month. This fantastic figure was raised through a variety of activities, with S6 pupils responsible for organising some fun and lucrative events.

S1 pupils took part in a sponsored walk in which they raised over £1000. This money was split equally between Lepra, a charity that combats leprosy, and The Smile Foundation – who support communities in the developing world.

S6 organised a non-uniform day to raise funds for CLIC Sargent. As well as the non-uniform day, sixth year pupils managed to persuade teachers to have wet sponges thrown at them for cash.

Thanks very much to all pupils and their families and friends who gave so generously.

AS part of Marr College’s health week, the geography department ran a competition to design a poster that would encourage pupils to use their bike to travel to school. The winning design was created by Olivia Riddle and the runner-up was Fiona Welsh.

Marr College is committed to encouraging pupils and staff to use sustainable transport options to travel to and from school, both to benefit their health and the environment. It also helps in furthering our goals of being a health promoting school and achieving Eco-Schools status.