Pupil Parliament
What is Pupil Parliament?
Pupil Parliament is a democratically, peer elected group of pupils representing each of our classes. The purpose of the Pupil Parliament is to provide a voice for all of our pupils , enabling all to have an active role in matters that affect their lives both in school and the wider community.
How is it different from the School Council?
The new Pupil Parliament is structured much like the government as it consists of Members of Parliament and made up of different sub-committees.
Each Member of Parliament will be elected through a whole school election process, which then a further election process will take place to vote in a Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister. The aim of mirroring the process of how we vote in the United Kingdom is so that children are aware of the process and how their votes can make a difference.
The different sub-committees within Pupil Parliament will consist of ministers. In November, each sub-committee will have two ministers who will be elected through the Pupil Parliament. Each committee is designed to have a specific focus on improving Riddlesden St Mary's Primary School.
How Pupil Parliament Works
The Pupil Parliament will meet at least once a week to discuss up and coming events and any issues raised by their peers.These meetings usually run for half an hour, during lunch time. After the meetings, the Members of Parliament, where necessary, will then feedback to the class the outcome of the meetings. MP's are occasionally asked to attend meetings and speak to visitors to promote our school.
The Role of an MP
MP's play a vital role in the day to day running of school as they are the voice of the children.
Pupils who are elected, are expected to:
- attend meetings
- feedback and discuss with their class any ideas and issues raised at meetings
- share opinions with other Members of Parliament
- be confident to speak in front of people
- respect and take into consideration other people’s thoughts and feelings.
Pupils have been discussing the role of MPP and thinking about what it takes to be a good class MPP. Those interested in the role have completed their manifesto. These have now been anonymised and the children will be given the opportunity to read through and discuss each manifesto before taking part in a confidential, individual vote.
By clicking on the links below, you can have a look at each manifesto submitted by pupils in Year 3,4 and 5:
Our current Y6 MPPs will stay in post until the end of the academic year and will be supporting our new MPPs.
Our new Pupil Parliament structure is below:
Where it all began
In 2019, Mrs Whitaker successfully applied to become a Teacher Ambassador for Parliament's Education Service. She was one of 70 teachers from across the UK to be selected for the role after outlining the importance of democracy in her application and describing how she would spread the word about democracy.
Following her acceptance onto the programme, Mrs Whitaker took part in three days’ training at Parliament’s education centre. As well as a tour of the Houses of Parliament, she met the Speaker of the House of Commons John Bercow and MP Tracy Brabin.