Pupil Parliament

Lesson: British Values

Four pupils from Year 5 accompanied Miss Hughes to Lancaster and Morecambe College today, to take part in the local 'Pupil Parliament' event.  

The focus at Pupil Parliament this year is equality, diversity and combatting discrimination.  The children learnt about the nine 'Protected Characteristics' of the Equality Act 2010 and how these are attributes that are protected by law; today's focus was racial equality.  They learnt about a time in history when this wasn't always the case, and about a little girl called Ruby Bridges, who contributed to the resegregation of American schools.  The children talked about how even the smallest of people can make the biggest difference, by standing up for what is right.  They discussed the importance of tolerance, respect and fairness, as well as standing up for others and using their voices to speak out when they see injustice.  They practised debating and speaking persuasively to a large audience of around 100 other children and almost 30 adults!

The children were a credit to the school and their families and came back informed and enthused, to educate their peers, speak up and make change. They are keen to share what they learnt in an assembly, help to make a display representing the protected characteristics and get involved in inviting visiting speakers to the school to widen our perspectives and teach us about other races, ethnicities and cultures.  We are very proud of our representatives - well done!