As part of our Local and National Government topic, today we welcomed Aimee Dobie, the UK Parliament Outreach Education Officer.  We linked our activity to the UNCRC Rights of the Child and DYW (Developing the Young Workforce).

This built on the visits from Emma Currie, who spoke about her experiences with the Scottish Youth Parliament, Caroline Schofield who delivered a session from the Scottish Parliament and the work we have done in class this term. We have had a very busy and informative time!

Aimee had created a fun, informative PowerPoint to tell us more about the role of the UK Parliament and she also had a video message (created just for us!) from Alister Jack who is the MP for Dumfries and Galloway and the Secretary of State for Scotland.

We chatted about the skills required to be an MP (linking these to Employability Skills) , the importance of Parliament – why it is important- and what we can do to help our class and community now and in the future. The children learned how our laws are there to support us for our social and economic health; such as in education, healthcare and employment (UNCRC Article 26). Additionally, we learned about the cross section of experts that are invited to sit in the House of Lords from different career specialisms and industries; representing a diversity of backgrounds, cultures and genders. We also talked about how this linked to our very own Pupil Council and Eco Committee. Democracy at Primary School level (Article 15 – setting up and joining groups).

Many thanks to Aimee for an informative afternoon!