THE JURY has made its decision. In the case of Palatine High School, Marton, going to extraordinary lengths to educate its pupils, the verdict is .... guilty!

This is exactly the kind of experience that a team of students from Palatine had when they came second in the Lancashire area heats of the Mock Trial competition.

Organised by the Magistrates' Association in conjunction with the Citizenship Foundation, the contest was held at Preston Magistrates Court and involved teams from the North West having to prosecute one case, defend another, act as Magistrates and other court officials, and be both prosecution and defence witnesses. Frank Shipway, a senior teacher at Palatine High School said: "Pupils often take part in public speaking competitions and we also teach a subject called Personal and Social Education (PSE) which involves looking at how local authorities work and how the judicial system operates. The competition sounded interesting, and it seemed the next logical step from teaching legal aspects to actually experiencing them first-hand."

To prepare for the mock trial the pupils watched a video and went to Blackpool Magistrates Court as well as receiving a presentation at the school from a magistrate.

On the day they were given only witness statements and a short guide to court procedure before they went into a legal battle with teams from Nelson, Lancaster, Preston and Lytham St Annes. At the end of it all they were runners-up to Our Lady's RC High School in Lancaster. Both teams will now compete in the North West Regional finals at Kendal in April.

Mr Shipway added: "This was their first experience of life in court. To have acquitted themselves with such a high degree of competence in such unfamiliar situations was a major achievement. The judges went out of their way to comment on how impressed they were and we are looking forward to carrying the banner for the Fylde Coast in the finals."

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.