Cheadle Hulme Primary School pupils took part in Parliament Week whilst taking part in lots of activities lead by some of our guests.
Each year, we invite representatives from the different major political parties into school to meet with our children. Over the week we have had lots of visitors in such as local Lib Dem councillors: Jilly Julian and Tom Morrison, Councillor David Meller of the Labour and Cooperative party as well as MP Mary Robinson from the Conservatives.
UK Parliament Week is a week-long national programme that aims to get the public to engage with the country’s democratic systems and institutions. As part of UK Parliament Week, people are encouraged to organise events and activities in collaboration with other members of their community.
Each of the guests have met with Pupil Parliament groups and each class to ask questions and give presentations about their jobs and what they do within the local constituency. We have also expanded our Pupil Parliament to now include the Treasury – a group of pupils were democratically elected to represent this department. They will be working alongside the other departments and will have their own charity projects with our school charity the Together Trust.
UK Parliament Week was an opportunity for the pupils to really immerse themselves in the idea of what parliament/government is and what they can do for us. The topics they spoke in class ranged from naming and identifying different locations in parliament (The Houses of Parliament, Westminster, 10 Downing Street, Houses of Commons and Lords) to debating in class. We also launched ‘The Great Debate’ a new session to school with an oracy focus – where every pupil in school who was not part of our Pupil Parliament discussed the question ‘is the Treasury the most important department’. Whilst this happened, members of the pupil parliament met and wrote their own question which will be answered in subsequent Great Debate sessions. Every pupil met with their local councillor/MP and was able to spend time with that person for a lesson during the week. This included presentations from the councillors and Q&A sessions.
Mr Ives, Our Values and Attitudes Lead said “Being part of UK Parliament Week has really inspired our children. We have been able to draw on the expertise of local councillors and our local MP to bring the idea of government and parliament to life, building the cultural capital of the children at CHPS. We will continue to build on the ideas of UK Parliament Week within our own Pupil Parliament and look forward to welcoming our newest department, The Treasury, into the CHPS Cabinet!”
