Students visit town hall for Parliament Week

Parliament Week is an annual event and this year’s focus was on young people and political engagement.

In Bournemouth, businesswoman Samantha Acton, who runs cleaning firm Domestic Angels, hosts the event and students from Bournemouth School, Bournemouth School for Girls, St Peters, Winton and Glenmoor schools, Bournemouth Collegiate School and The Bourne Academy attended.

The event, the second in the town, was chaired by Bournemouth’s mayor, Cllr Chris Mayne, and included a workshop on how Parliament operates followed by a debating session involved five local political figures – Julie Girling, MEP for SW England and Gibraltar, Annette Brooke, MP for North Poole & Mid Dorset, Tobias Ellwood, MP Bournemouth East, Cllr Jane Kelly and Vikki Slade, Prospective Parliamentary Candidate for North Poole and Mid Dorset.

Samantha said: “Partnering Parliament Week is a privilege and an opportunity.

“It is of great benefit to the senior school students of Bournemouth. Each year, theirs and their teachers’ input are helping to find the right formula for the future, hopefully guaranteeing that this valuable event becomes a fixed event in the Bournemouth calendar.

“This event wouldn’t be possible without the support of volunteers, our sponsors Morgan Sindall, and our stakeholders, Bournemouth Chamber of Trade and Bournemouth Council, whose staff in democratic services and economic regeneration ensured the event ran smoothly and that the students had a positive experience.”

Jim Attridge, of Glenmoor School, added: “The opportunity to meet local MPs and hear their ideas about local, national and European issues was eye-opening for all of the students who attended from The Academies of Glenmoor and Winton.

Barry Bonds, a politics teacher at Bournemouth School said: “It was engaging and enjoyable for the students; a unique opportunity to see the practical implications of the theories and models we study in class.”