Year 12 Government & Politics Visit to Parliament
On Friday the 29th of September the Year 12 Government and Politics students visited the Houses of Parliament. The trip allowed students to bring our studies to life and fleetingly experience what we have been learning in one of our A Level units about the British constitution and the powers of Parliament.
After a short train journey we arrived at Westminster, greeted by the familiar buildings we’ve seen on the news (and in textbooks!). We were then given some time in small groups to explore, eat and compete in a challenge of which group could take the most (and to some extent funny) photos and tweet them to the politics department on twitter (@PresdalesPols). Through this light-hearted challenge, we got to visit a variety of sights, including Downing Street, Big Ben, the Supreme Court and multiple offices such as the Cabinet Office.
After posing with an assortment of notable individuals (unfortunately in statue form) we reconvened to be given a tour around the Houses of Parliament. We were able to view the two different chambers, along with the Queen’s robing room, the lobbies and more. In doing so, we were quizzed on our knowledge from class along with learning more about the history of Parliament and the different duties of the Houses. Following our tours, we attended a debating workshop and learnt about the essentials of debating in Parliament; to put this in to context, we split into two groups and debated the question of ‘Should school uniforms be banned?’ seeing some very passionate responses from each side.
The day was both fascinating and enjoyable, leaving some students with the hope of someday working in Westminster. Consequently, we’d like to thank Mr Spurgeon and Miss Powell for organising such a fantastic trip and hope to see next year’s cohort enjoy it too!
Katie Adamson and Maisie Mautterer, Year 12