In September 2000, ESU Scotland launched the National Juniors’ Debating Competition – the first ever national schools debating competition for Scottish secondary school students in years 1-3. The competition is now in its eighth year.

The 2008/09 competition attracted a record entry of 130 teams, up from 128 last year. The evidence of the growing strength of Scottish schools debating is most encouraging, and owes not a little to the success of the Debates Outreach Projects that ESU Scotland has been running with local authorities since 2005. Many of the teams now taking part in debating competitions have come through Outreach Projects.

With our work with Learning & Teaching Scotland now in a 2nd phase, it is very possible that numbers will continue to grow over the next few years.

The winners of our 2008/09 competition were Jack Patterson and Harris Jones of George Heriot's School. The final took place at the Centre For Contemporary Arts in Glasgow, and the other schools in the final were Douglas Academy, St. Columba's Kilmalcolm, and Aberdeen Grammar School.

For details of next year's competition, please contact Jack Donaldson.

ESU Schools Mace

ESU Scotland also assists in running the ESU Schools Mace, a competition organised by the Centre for Speech and Debate based at the English-Speaking Union in London. This competition is primarily for older secondary school students (although there is no lower age limit) and is entered by more than 400 teams throughout England and Scotland each year.

2009-2010 Schools Mace

On Saturday 24th April 2010, ESU Scotland held the Semi-Finals and Final of The Scottish Schools Mace at The University of Edinburgh. The motion for the Semi-Finals was This House Would Introduce Full Body Scanners To All Airports In The UK. Competing in the Semi-Finals were The High School of Glasgow, St Joseph's High School, Douglas Academy, George Heriot's School, The High School of Dundee, Fettes College, Madras College, and Robert Gordon's College. Many of the judges commented on the high quality of the debates, and it was great to see so many young debaters taking the issues on board and debating them with such enthusiasm and skill.

The four teams who progressed to the final were George Heriot's School, The High School of Dundee, Madras College, and Robert Gordon's College. The motion for the final was This House Would Allow Prisoners The Right to Vote. We were very lucky to have Ms Elaine Tyre, Director of The Legal Practice Unit at Edinburgh University, and Professor Angus Skinner on the judging panel- their experience and knowledge of both law and penal practice gave them a truly unique insight into the topic under debate. After two very lively debates, (with some memorable one liners!) our judges retired to deliberate. After a long deliberation they came back with their verdict, and the winners were..... The High School of Dundee. After the result was announced and the trophy awarded, the finalists and judges went for an excellent and very convivial lunch at B'est Restaurant, which was much enjoyed by all who attended.

2008-2009 Schools Mace

The Scottish 2008-09 competition was won, for the second year in a row, by Hannah Mackaness and Georgina Barker of George Heriot's School. They defeated St. Columba's Kilmacolm, Abronhill High School and High School of Dundee in the final.

ESU Vice-Presidents’ Cup

In 2009, ESU Scotland launched a new debating competition for schools that have taken part in our Debates Outreach Project.

The first Vice-Presidents’ Cup took place on Tuesday 23rd of June 2009 and the four competing schools were Abronhill High School, St. Maurice’s High School, Wallace High School, and St. Margaret’s Academy. Ryan Herity and Ryan Williamson of Abronhill won the first ever Vice-Presidents’ Cup. We look forward to this becoming a major part of ESU life.