Ysgol Bryngwyn School
School Council visit to Parliament
"Bryngwyn School Council spent a day in the Houses of Parliament on 1st May, as the politicians were busy trying to drum up support for their local election campaigns in England.
First on the itinerary was a walk past the UK Government buildings of Whitehall, at which Jess and Oliver had their photos taken at two departments they will one day end up in charge of (if not Number 10). We also paid our respects at the Cenotaph before arriving at the Houses of Parliament.
school council visit parliament
We were given a tour of the parliamentary estate, beginning with the history of Westminster Hall. We visited the actual spot where Charles the First was tried, to be later executed. This place has also been the venue for many visits from dignitaries from abroad, including Nelson Mandela and (you've guessed it) Donald Trump.
In the House of Lords we listened to part of a debate on the Children's Well Being and Schools Bill, currently making its way through parliament. The debate we heard featured discussion on the importance of sport in schools. In the House of Commons we listened to various MPs debating the treatment of Parkinson's disease.
During our scheduled education session we learnt about how petitions are used as part of the democratic process. Did you know that, on an electronic petition carried out through parliament's website, if it reaches 10,000 signatures the government have to consider the proposal? If it reaches 100,000 there has to be a debate in the House of Commons on the issue. Anyone can sign these: participants do not have to be eighteen years of age.
The pupils were split into three groups and assigned a government department: health, transport or education. Each group then had to come up with their own idea about how to improve delivery of that service for the public. Your school council decided that the following ideas were most important: having more NHS dentists, making more buses and trains available for the public, and having more life lessons in the school curriculum. Pupils then had to think of a marketing campaign to raise the awareness of the issue for a petition on it.
Our MP Dame Nia Griffith came to see the summaries of these ideas to round off the session. We then walked through the lovely St James' Park to the Piccadilly area to shop in the largest bookshop in Europe. What better place to end our visit to London?"
