Yesterday we had a visit from Angela McGarrigle from the Outreach department of the Scottish Parliament. This ties in well with our Democracy topic and helped bring together what we have been learning in class.

The children were given the opportunity to form different parties: Sporty Party, Music Party, Computer Party, Animal Welfare Party and the Save the Earth Party. They each chose a leader, put together a manifesto and presented it at an ‘election’.

Here are our party leaders giving their manifesto speeches.

We were then shown how to fill in a ballot paper and then we voted.

The party which gained the most votes when counted was the Music   Party.

Next we carried out a debate just as it happens in the Scottish Parliament. We chose to debate a Smoking issue- the motion was Should smoking be banned?

Molly was the Presiding Officer and she had to control the debate;deciding who should speak and ensuring no one took up too much time.

Everyone except the Presiding Officer then voted on the motion, either yes, no or abstain. We were given 10 seconds to vote, the same amount of time as is given in the Scottish Parliament.

The motion was carried.

It was a really interesting session and we all know much more about the Scottish Parliament and how it functions.

Jessica said, “It was great fun and interesting.”

Ronan enjoyed being the leader of the Sporty Party.

Tia  liked doing the debate.

Molly said,”It was a great opportunity and I loved it.”

Emily liked learning how to do an election.

Emmy enjoyed taking part in both the election and the debate.

Bertie liked the debate about smoking.