On Friday 3 August nearly 30 schools from across the Waikato region competed for an opportunity to stand on the national stage. Hetekia Te Ua stood in the Sir Turi Carroll junior English section and placed third overall, with his speech entitled, “Trust Me with Our Future”. Given that Hetekia is a Year 9 student, he will have an opportunity to improve his standing in this section next year. Thank you to Matua Thompson who supported Hetekia in this competition.

This is a simulated court case whereby each team is allocated a case study and has to act either as the defence or prosecution for the case. They were provided with a huge amount of material and legal paperwork to sift through in order to prepare for their argument. Tony Wu, Dylan Woodhouse and Conor Horrigan spent countless hours preparing their defence case. They met with ex crown prosecutor, Jonathan Ruthven for coaching and direction in preparation for the competition. On the day, they delivered a very compelling case, and although they weren’t placed, the judges were very impressed with the high calibre of the delivery. A great opportunity for potential law students to get a taste of what it is like to work in the New Zealand legal system.