Alan Brown, our local MP visited Stewarton Academy on Friday and met with our S4 modern studies pupils and our Rights Respecting School group. Ms. Hogg arranged this visit as part of her delivery of the Democracy in the UK unit to give pupils further insight into the role of an MP not just on a local level but also to understand how this interlinks nationally. Aside from this it is also UK Parliament week, so this really was a perfectly timed visit. Prior to the visit both the S4 pupils and the RRS group had prepared questions to pose to Mr. Brown as part of a Q&A session.

The S4 questions were focused on the day-to-day workings of parliament and the different jobs MP do. They were also very interested to hear that Mr. Brown had previously been a civil engineer and had then had a career change and decided to go into politics. They were also intrigued by the fact that as a back bencher Mr. Brown can hold the government to account.

The RRS group focused their questions on human rights and mental health issues. They were very interested in Mr. Browns role with regards to the environment and asked questions relating to the schools Clean Green Award and measures taken by parliament to reach net zero.

This was a fantastic opportunity for Stewarton Academy pupils to have their voices heard and further their knowledge of community issues. A huge thank you to Ms. Hogg for arranging.

Our senior pupils have recently taken part in workshops on sexualisation delivered by Mairi Edwars from the Star Centre. These workshops were hugely beneficial. They highlighted gender stereotypes, sexualisation in the media and opened up general discussions around sexual violence and consent. Our senior pupils were very active in all tasks and showed respect, confidence and maturity at all times. The workshops made the rights of the child explicit at all times. The main articles in focus were:

Article 2-No discrimination

Article 8- Identity

Article13- Sharing thoughts freely

Article 16- Protection of privacy

Article 19- Protection from violence

Article 34-Protection from sexual abuse

Article 35-Prevention of sale and trafficking

Article 36-Protection from exploitation

Mairi was very impressed by the inclusive ethos in all classes. She commented on the pupils being respectful not only of her but of each other’s opinions and feelings. She added that there is a real sense of pupils being able to express their identity and thoughts freely.

Pupil’s comments included: ” This was so fun” “This is one of the best workshops its so interactive”

Miss MacBain

Yesterday, our Senior Modern languages pupils had a virtual meeting with the Franco British Chamber of commerce that talked about the top industries in France,  cultural differences, other towns and cities in France outside of Paris and Career paths of staff on call including how they came to France and their experiences of France. This was very informative and also a great motivator to remind our pupils how important and also fun is learning French! 

Mrs Verneau-Conlan