YR9 Young Magistrates Mock Trial Competition

On the 28th February; Mahiruddin Ahmed, Harry Boorman, Joshua Brennan, Cameron Cini, Eli Benoit, Kit To, Dillon Patel and Max Thomas were chosen to represent the school in the young magistrates mock trial competition. Most of us were nervous, we only had a few days to practice. There was also a girls' school team.

Once we had got there, we were searched for dangerous materials and were asked to wait in the lobby for the competition to start. Originally, there were supposed to be a total of eight schools competing but we discovered that one school had dropped out of the competition and this delayed the start of the competition.

After a long and tedious wait, our first trial started. We were on the side of the prosecution against a school from essex. Mahir and Kit were prosecution lawyers with Josh and Eli as their witnesses. Dillon did an excellent job as legal adviser. Cameron, Harry and Max were magistrates. Both teams put up a good fight, however the magistrates came to a "not-guilty" verdict. We may have lost the battle but the war goes on...

After the first trial had ended, we were once again in the lobby feeling very good thinking that we did a better job than our competition. We had time to relax at this point when Harry and Eli were constantly practicing for the next part of the trial.

The second round was up. This time we were against a school from Westminster. When we entered our nervous feeling faded. This time; Harry and Eli were defence lawyers with Josh as the defendant and Max as the defence witness. Dillon was, this time, an usher. Mahir, Kit and Cameron were magistrates.

The other team looked like primary school students but, shockingly, they weren't! Our opponents seemed to make many mistakes giving away vital information that could have lost them the case. However, much to our surprise, we lost the case! Again! Luckily, we were being marked on our acting skills and how much information we can unveil and not whether we can win or lose the case.

After the case, the judges said that we did a really good job and Dillon "the usher" was offered a job!

We were once again in the lobby. This time there was one difference. We weren't waiting for another round, we were waiting for the results. Once we were told to enter the court where the judges were about to give us the results and settled down, the lawyers started telling us about how we can get into law. There was a question and answer session and then the moment of truth...

We lost! Sadly, St Paul's Way won. We were gutted! The judges only told us who won so we don't know what place we came in at. The girls were also very upset by this.

We went back to the lobby, had pictures taken and were dismissed. We may have lost, but hopefully we did well. This whole competition was a great experience and it could, possibly inspire some, if not all, of the contestants to pursue a career in law.

This whole competition was great and could not be possible without the help of:
Ms Ashe
Ms Neburagho
Ms Dan

ALSO: Don't forget to look at the pictures!

Our Favourite Books...

***COMING SOON***

A list of our favourite novels compiled by students and the English teachers at Bishop Challoner.

Looking for a new book to read for yourself or your son or daughter? Then have a look through this list for plenty of suggestions.

Year 7 Boys and Girls - East London Week November 2008

Last November the English and Humanities Faculties ran 'East London Week'. This was a cross curricular week where activities based on our school's local area were studied in all departments across the school.

In English, we studied the local area and in particular the most famous of our local residents - Jack the Ripper. We looked at his history in the local area, and in particular the scary thought that all his crimes were committed in the streets around our school! We wrote creative writing stories, wrote newspaper articles about Jack the Ripper and made wanted posters to display in our classrooms.

Click the link below to see us in action during East London Week.

http://s79.photobucket.com/albums/j158/chico79/East%20London%20Week/?action=view&current=5233817a.pbw

Sixth Form English - Year 12 AS English trip to Whitby February 2009.

The year 12 AS English group and two of their teachers Miss Ashe and Mr Chinery, recently visited the seaside town of Whitby in the North East of England. This was a valuable part of their course as they are studying Dracula by Bram Stoker which is partly set in Whitby.

The students stayed in the Abbey high up on the cliffs of Whitby where they sampled the local specialties of world famous fish and chips as well as a night time tour of Whitby with a Dracula expert.

The trip wasn't all fun and games though, as well as a six hour trip by coach from London to Whitby (and the same to get home again) the students were expected to write a 2000 word essay based on Dracula.

The trip was a resounding success and was enjoyed by both staff and students as you can see from the photos linked below.


http://s79.photobucket.com/albums/j158/chico79/Whitby/?action=view&current=b48fa184.pbw