Students from The Heath School took the prize at this year’s Halton Mayoral School Debates and have been named as Best Team Debaters in the borough for 2016.
The competition took place on Wednesday 16 November at Halton Borough Council’s CRMZ youth centre and saw schools from across the borough debating issues taken from this year’s UK Youth Parliament Make Your Mark ballot.
The competition was chaired by young people from Halton Youth Cabinet and in the judges seat were the Mayor of Halton Cllr Ged Philbin and Executive Member for Children, Young People and Families, Cllr Tom McInerney.
The Heath’s victorious team were Alex Anderson, Ella Redmond, Alex Winstanley and Dominic Williams.
There was also a special commendation for Meredith Hannon from Ormiston Chadwick Academy who walked away with the trophy for Best Individual Debater.
Halton Borough Council Mayor Cllr Ged Philbin said: “It is always great to see young people getting involved in politics as in a few years, they will be making the decisions, not us!”
The debates in Halton were organised by Young Addaction on behalf of Halton’s Children’s Trust and Halton Borough Council as part of an on-going commitment to improve opportunities for all children and young people living in the borough.
The Heath took part in debates about compulsory provision of Youth Services and public subsidies for transport for young people. And Meredith (along with others from OCA) debated compulsory first aid education in schools and that mental health should be on the national curriculum.
The debate topics were taken from this year’s Make Your Mark ballot which decides the topics for the UKYP’s House of Commons debate.
For more information about Participation and Democracy opportunities including the UK Youth Parliament and Halton Youth Cabinet please contact Young Addaction on 0151 257 2530 or email phil.mcclure@addaction.org.uk