Shaldon pupils visit Parliament to collect award
Friday 8 Sep 2017 What an amazing day
staff & pupils had in Parliament collecting The Speaker’s Award for our Pen Pals’ Project, Building Bridges Across the Generations.
We were delighted that this project which has involved year 6 pupils writing to older members of the community, then meeting them on five separate occasions over the past year for concerts, croquet, portraits, clay making and history book making in addition to the regular exchange of letters and cards, gained such high recognition and this prestigious award.
Six pupils were selected to join us for the day, meeting in school at 5.30am ready to board the train bound for London. In addition, we were lucky to take two of the penfriends with us – Jeniffer Gillet and Ivor Watts. The excitement was palpable as we took the opportunity for some sight-seeing, led by Mr Coe. Song, Louis, Sadie-May, Mei-Lin, Paige-Leigh and Harry were thrilled to see their capital city in full swing.
On arriving in Parliament, we were treated to a guided tour including the opportunity to learn more about the history of Westminster Palace and the two houses – the House of Commons and the House of Lords. As this was Wednesday, we knew that Theresa May was fielding questions in PMQs and we watched some of this from the screens displayed in the lobby, before being able to go into the public gallery to see some further debating in progress. Michael Fallon was speaking about shipping and defence.
It wasn’t long before we were being taken to The Speaker’s Rooms for lunch and to meet with our local MP, Anne-Marie Morris who showed a genuine interest in the project, taking time to talk to all of the children and to look through some of the photographs, letters and the history book that formed part of the project. She stayed as the Speaker, Jon Bercow, handed out the awards and celebrated the success of the children’s hard work.
The award is a beautiful glass star which will now be on display in school, where it will continue to give us great pride in our achievement, and remind us that this important project still has room for growth in the future.