Bar Mock Trial Competition 2017/18 Schools Guide England, Wales and Northern Ireland Bar Mock Trial Competition Schools Guide
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Bar Mock Trial Competition 2017/18 Schools Guide England, Wales and Northern Ireland Bar Mock Trial Competition Schools Guide Contents Curriculum Links and Introduction 1 Competition Format, Rules and Key Information 2 School’s Timetable 3 Preparation for the Competition 6 Overview of Student Roles 7 Competition Administration 10 Typical Programme of the Day 11 Additional Information 12 Order of Procedure 15 Competition Rules and Scoring 17 Example Judging Sheet 20 Court Layout 21 Glossary 22 2© Citizenship Foundation 2017 • Charity Reg. No. 801360 Bar Mock Trial Competition Schools Guide Age Range: 15 - 18 Cross Curricular Links: Curriculum References: SMSC: Recognise legal boundaries and, in so Citizenship Main Aims: doing, respect the civil and criminal law in Develop a sound knowledge and England. Accept and engage with the understanding of the role of law and the fundamental British values of democracy, the justice system in our society and how laws rule of law, individual liberties and mutual are shaped and enforced respect. Citizenship Key Stage 4: Language and Literacy: This lesson supports The legal system in the UK, different sources aims relating to spoken language, reading and of law and how the law helps society deal writing and vocabulary development. with complex problems. English: Speak confidently and effectively including through using standard English confidently in a range of formal and informal contexts, including class discussion. Other Resources Case 1: Role Guide: Court Clerk Role Guide: Witness Case 2: Role Guide: Juror Role Guide: Barrister Role Guide: Usher Introduction The Citizenship Foundation’s Bar Mock Trial Competition is a practical and challenging way to educate young people about their legal rights and responsibilities, the criminal justice system, and the legal process and profession generally, while at the same time improving their public speaking, analytical and team-working skills. The competition involves teams of young people aged 15-18 from non fee-paying schools across England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland presenting opposing sides of specially written criminal cases in real Crown Court buildings. The students take on the role of barristers, witnesses, court staff and jurors, and their performances are judged by real judges and senior barristers. The competition is entering its 27th cycle with over 250 schools from across England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland having applied this year. What the competition does As well as helping to deliver key aspects of the Citizenship curriculum for key stage 4, the Bar Mock Trial Competition has three primary aims: Public legal education – The Competition furnishes young people with the knowledge, skills and confidence they need to recognise and address the legal problems they may encounter. Introduction to the legal profession – The legal profession can seem alien and obscure to many young people. The competition helps to correct this by giving the young people competing direct contact with those involved in the administration of justice and by giving them realistic insight into how courts work, and how cases are prepared, presented and decided. Enrichment – The Competition helps the young people involved to develop the skills and behaviours, such as communication skills and resilience, which will enable them to function and succeed in all aspects of their lives. © Citizenship Foundation 2017 • Charity Reg. No. 801360 1 Bar Mock Trial Competition Schools Guide Competition Format, Rules and Key Information How the competition works The competition has two stages: regional heats, which take place at Crown Court buildings across the UK (November) and a national final (March/April). Schools will be assigned to one regional heat where they will present opposing sides of specially written criminal cases in a live format against other schools over three rounds. The two highest scoring schools then proceed to the fourth round to determine the regional winner that will progress to the national final. Schools must present the prosecution and defence for case one and the prosecution or defence for case two. This will be determined by a draw that will be available at your regional heat (see example below). Schools should prepare the prosecution and defence of both cases because the draw is subject to change, and they will be expected to present the other side of case two if they proceed to the fourth round (where both schools that reach the final round have presented the same side, this will be decided by a coin toss). Example of a draw for the day: Round 1 Court Round 2 Court Round 3 Court (R v Phillips) (R v Smith) (R v Phillips) School A School C School B V V V School D A School E C School F G The winner of the regional heat will go forward to compete in the national final in March/April 2017 where they will compete against the other regional heat winners to determine the national winner. The Project Coordinator liaises with the schools, courts, regional coordinators, barristers and judges to ensure that the competition runs smoothly. The regional coordinators are practising barristers and judges who are assigned to a heat and organise the volunteers. Age of students Students must be in Years 10-13 in England and Wales and in Years 11-14 in Northern Ireland at the time of taking part in the regional heats in November. Independent learning Students are expected to work independently and those who do will derive more benefit from the competition. Teachers should only be there to give tips and advice and should not prepare anything for the students (such as speeches). Students will be scored according to the mark scheme. Judges will be fully briefed before the start of the competition on the cases and the mark scheme. Students will be marked down for the following: Introducing new evidence: Students must not introduce new evidence (i.e. any information that is not contained in the witness statements). It is not fair to expect either a student playing a witness or a student playing a barrister to ask or be asked about things outside the scope of the witness statement. Students who introduce new evidence will be penalised. Reading from a script: Students should not read excessively from notes or speak from memorised scripts. It is much easier to perform well if the students can act spontaneously and judges will give more marks for this. Reading rigidly from notes or speaking from a memorised script means 2 © Citizenship Foundation 2017 • Charity Reg. No. 801360 Bar Mock Trial Competition Schools Guide performances are not true to life. Students are allowed to use notes with short bullet points/ notes. Going over the time limits: Students must keep within the time limits set. The judge is aware of the time limits and if students go over, they will be penalised. The judge’s decision on the day of the heat is always final. Unlike in real life, there is no appeal system after decisions have been made. It is not possible to change the scores after the event. School’s Timetable Citizenship Month Schools Check Foundation Confirm receipt of resources with the Citizenship Foundation. Provide schools with July access to resources. Send schools link to Recruit a team including reserves. pre-participation surveys. Distribute materials to students so that they can read them over the summer. Finalise team members, including court reporter and court artist if applicable. If you are unable to take part, inform the Project Coordinator by e-mailing [email protected] before 15th September September Send details of barrister 2017 in order to receive a refund. volunteer to schools Decide a regular meeting day, time and (where available). place. Ensure all team members fully understand both cases Contact barrister mentor to arrange a visit (where available) Send out regional heat information, including Continue preparations. October directions to court and parking facilities. © Citizenship Foundation 2017 • Charity Reg. No. 801360 3 Bar Mock Trial Competition Schools Guide Citizenship Month Schools Check Foundation Reallocate barrister volunteers who have not Return team list and photograph been contacted by the schools they were originally permission form to the Project allocated to by Coordinator by 13th October 2017 . October 6th October 2017. Make travel arrangements for regional Send schools team lists and heat. photo permission forms to complete. Continue preparations. Send out arrival times to November schools Attend regional heat - arrive at the court at time indicated. Send out Complete evaluation form. post-participation evaluation December link to teachers. Begin national final preparations (finalist schools only). Send finalist schools national final case. Continue preparations. Send schools national final information, including Send permission letters to parents for directions to court, parking national final. facilities, travel and Make travel and accommodation January accommodation arrangements for national final. information. 4 © Citizenship Foundation 2017 • Charity Reg. No. 801360 Bar Mock Trial Competition Schools Guide Citizenship Month Schools Check Foundation Continue national final preparations. Send schools national final Send schools any additional details for team lists and photo the national final. February permission forms to complete. Return national final team list, dietary requirements and photograph permission form to the Project Coordinator by 16th February 2017 . March/ Continue preparation. Attend national final - arrive at the court April at the time specified by the Project Coordinator. © Citizenship Foundation 2017 • Charity Reg. No. 801360 5 Bar Mock Trial Competition Schools Guide Preparation for the competition The first thing to do in preparing for the competition is to form a team. Ensure students understand what is required for their role (detailed information will be in the individual student guides that follow but an overview can be found on pages 7-9). Students should also be aware that they will need to be available to compete on a Saturday in November.