School Council visit the Houses of Parliament

On Monday 28th September 2015, our newly elected Y5/6 School Councillors were privileged to be taken on a tour of the Houses of Parliament.

We entered on the very steps that the Queen uses for the State Opening of Parliament and then spent some time in the room where she puts on her robe and crown. We were surprised how small the throne in there is but when it was explained that the throne was made for Queen Victoria – who was VERY small – we understood!

After that we heard about the Magna Carta – our tour guide was very impressed with how much we knew about it – and how this led on to DEMOCRACY in our country.

The leather seats inside the House of Lords are red and the House of Commons seats are green. We were able to see where the Prime Minister sits and also members of the opposition. If you want to know the very interesting story about the Speaker’s chair, you must ask one of the School Councillors!

At the end of our tour, we stood on the spot where many famous people, including Nelson Mandela and Barak Obama, have addressed both the House of Lords and the House of Commons.

As we left Parliament, we had our photo taken with two police officers whose job it is to protect our Parliament and all who enter it.