Eighteen pupils participated in the second annual Hutchesons’ Grammar Model United Nations Conference on Saturday 23 and Sunday 24 February 2019. 

This was a conference of around 200 pupils from various schools across the country, as well as Hutchesons’ Grammar Polish partner school, which made this an international conference. It was the ideal place for delegates to develop their existing capabilities as well as allowing newer members of the club to see events in operation and to build confidence in their debating skills. Our pupils represented Egypt and Austria, as well as two security council countries, UK and Iraq. 

The delegates received fascinating talks from Dr Andrew Judge, a lecturer in International Relations at the University of Glasgow, who spoke about Brexit, as well as Dr Beth Taylor, the Former Chair of the UK National Commission for UNESCO who talked about her experiences working for the UN in Paris. 

Our delegates performed very well indeed over the weekend, debating complex topics such as hostage taking and abduction in war zones, combatting low female literacy rates in the developing world, the fine line between free speech and hate speech and also mass immigration. Of 10 prizes awarded, our pupils won five, and a further three pupils were given honourable mention. This was an excellent achievement for our group, who continue to perform at a high level at each conference they attend.

Awards: 

Tom Cameron (S5): commended Egypt 

Patrick Robinson (S5): commended UK

Aagash Chandrakumar (S6): highly commended Egypt 

Craig Gilchrist (S4): highly commended Iraq 

Nicholas Runcie (S6): highly commended UK

Honourable mentions: 

Ishani Mukerji (S6): Iraq

Pranav Maganti (S6): UK

Matthew West (S5): UK

Mr Campbell