Students Talk Politics At Houses Of Parliament
Chris Prince
/ Categories: News, Enrichment
Members of our Student Council and Scholars Club spent the day in London learning first-hand about the British political system.
The group of 24 students from Years 8-10 travelled to the capital by train before getting the underground straight to the Houses of Parliament, where they enjoyed a two-hour tour of the world-famous building.
During the tour, they visited the House of Commons and witnessed MPs discussing a bill on additional NHS funding, before spending time in the House of Lords, where peers were scrutinising a bill on how drones would be used in modern warfare.
In the afternoon, the group enjoyed a special workshop focusing on how a general election works. They split into groups to represent different political parties, drew up their own manifesto and identified funding sources to support their proposed policies, before running the election itself.
After votes were counted, the result was a hung parliament, so the groups had to work together to align their different policies and form a government.
There was still time for more sightseeing before the end of the day, with students visiting the chamber where Henry VIII and Guy Fawkes were tried before taking a stroll down to Buckingham Palace – watching the changing of the Queen’s Guards on the way.
Mr Taylor, who runs the Stockport Academy Scholars Club, said: “This was a brilliant opportunity for our students to experience politics first-hand, and the day was absolutely fascinating.
“Students were engaged throughout and behaved impeccably as they learned about modern democracy and will bring back that invaluable knowledge into their everyday lessons.”