On Monday 4th July ten Student Council members accompanied by Miss Green and Mrs Pinfold went to London to visit the Houses of Parliament and, attend a Law-making Workshop.  The group travelled to London by train and the visit started with a tour of the House Commons followed by the House of Lords.  Mrs Pinfold likened it to going through customs at the airport – there was lots of security before they could go in.  During the tour they saw the Queens Gold Chair and where all the ministers sit during debates.

The tour was followed by a workshop based on making laws. The students split into 2 sides and debated a new law on lowering the voting age to 15.   Joel Bough from Year 8 was one of the Leaders of the two Debating groups, he said “It was a really interesting day and we learnt a lot about the process of law making and how it goes through the House of  Lords and Commons. I really enjoyed it.”

One of the students Caitlin Banbury in Year 7, was made Speaker for the workshop which she really enjoyed “They dressed me in a Speaker’s cape.  It was a very interesting experience – I had to point to the different people to speak during the debate and had to control it if people started getting into an argument.  It was a really good day especially seeing the House of Lords and House of Commons where so much is decided to do with the country.”  She continued “I think it will give us a better way to run our meetings and the way we do things at Student Council meetings”

Local MP, Stewart Jackson then joined the group and talked to the students who asked him lost of questions mainly on the EU referendum and the current situation in government.  He answered all the their questions and promised to visit Jack Hunt next term.

The students were surprised how small the House of Commons was compared to how you see it on television and how luxurious the buildings were. 

Miss Green said “All the students were outstanding, behaving impeccably on the train and underground.  They are looking forward to putting into practise some of the things they learnt to run the Student Council and make decisions.  After such an interesting day we hope that Stewart Jackson will come next term so we can continue with our questions.”