Castle Douglas High win COPFS Schools Public Speaking Competition

Castle Douglas High School has won the national final of the 2018 Schools Public Speaking Competition run by the Crown Office & Procurator Fiscal Service.

Winners for the second year running, the Dumfriesshire team came out on top ahead of Shawlands Academy and Kirkcaldy High School at the final in Parliament House yesterday evening, speaking on "Belief and Scotland Today" in front on a panel of judges led by Lord Advocate James Wolffe QC. Each person in the two-strong teams had to deliver a five minute speech from a High Court witness box.

The competition began in Glasgow in 2012 but soon went on to be a national event and part of COPFS’s ongoing strategy aimed at improving understanding of equality and diversity issues. This year's competition started five months ago with 119 teams featuring nearly 240 pupils from 72 schools.

Presenting the trophy to the winners, the Lord Advocate congratulated all the teams who took part. 

He commented: "The standard of the entrants throughout the competition this year has again been exceptionally high and to see young people speaking with such passion and knowledge is a great advert for them and their schools.

"The competition exemplifies what can be achieved when pupils from different schools, from different parts of the country come together in the spirit of friendly competition to develop public speaking skills and engage in discussion and debate on important issues relating to diversity and equality."