Classroom News

Year 6 Parliament Incursion

On Tuesday the 5th of March we had an incursion focusing on parliament. We learnt about the different positions in parliament such as the government team, the opposing team, the Speaker, the Sergeant at Arms, the Clerk and the Prime Minister. We were also introduced to the Whips, the Ministers and Shadow Ministers and to the independent parties. 

As part of the session, we found out about the voting system. This was really fun. Everyone listened to the ideas from the 6 parties and then we had to number a voting slip from 1 - 6, based on our preferences. Afterwards, we all put our votes in the voting box and the counters counted them up. The end result was really close, having 4 of the 6 teams drawing, making us remove one of them and then counting their second vote and so on. In the end, after doing this a few times, the Environmental Party won with the Happiness Party coming in a close second.

The next activity was the main one, discussing the bill, ‘PE Should Be Banned for Primary Schools.’ The government team was arguing for this bill, whereas the opposing team was arguing against this bill. The government team had more people, just like in the real thing. After a lot of debating, the Speaker asked for a vote. The vote was close, so the Division Bell was rung. Then the votes were counted and even though the Independents all went to the opposing side, the government still won! The session was over, so the Sergeant at Arms collected the mace and led the Speaker out of the chamber.

Overall, the incursion was amazing. We learnt a lot about parliament and how government works.

By Audrey, Liam and the rest of 6A:)