Magistrate Visit Year Six
Today we had a visit from the magistrates court. The talk focused around 'doing the right thing.' We focused on what happens if people commit a crime and the processes afterwards.
We learnt about different types of court such as The Crown Court and The Magistrates Court. We discussed what happens to youths who commit crimes and which age a person can be convicted of a crime. We also learnt about bail and how all crimes start in The Magistrates Court.
We took part in a mock trial which revolved around Cyberbullying. The children were given a script and acted out the courtroom scene with the help of Paul and Ian. Some of the children played parts of the accused, legal adviser, victim and defendant.
The accused had been sending abusive, hurtful messages to another young adult.
One of the children was part of the defence and asked, "I believe you go the same college as Sonia and Katy. Perhaps you’d tell me, is it common for students to send each other text messages?"
We also spent time learning about the court and justice system as well as different punishments people may receive. We looked at which types of crimes went to the Crown and which went to the courts such as Lancaster Magistrates.
This real life experience was a fantastic insight into how a legal case works and roles of each participant.
We then created our own newspaper reports on what had happened. Please have a read below.