Mock Mediation is held on Monday and Wednesday afternoons from 3.30-4.45pm in B209/B210. This starts in Week 3 of Term 1 and runs until the end of Term 3 – with finals held at the end of Term 3 and during Term 4. There is a $15 fee involved which covers the cost of the legal professionals who judge each round.
Mediation is a structured problem-solving process designed to encourage the parties to identify the issues in dispute, consider options, and work towards an agreement that will meet the needs of all parties. Students develop a variety of skills that are required for personal development, including active listening, self-awareness, questioning, analysing, empathising, speaking clearly and logically, and creative thinking.
This co-curricular involves students studying a legal scenario that has escalated to require mediation. It involves the study of the scenario, identifying issues and developing possible resolutions that can be successfully achieved through mediation. Students work together to act out the full mediation process, including the roles of mediators and characters, demonstrating their understanding of the scenario and how best to overcome the issues to support all parties and their desired outcomes through mediation. This is performed in front of a legal professional from the Law Society, who judges and scores the group out of 100, providing feedback on how students have successfully mediated the process, and how they demonstrated understanding of the characters involved. This is a state competition that involves 3 rounds of mediation, where the highest scoring schools across from across NSW move into finals against each other.