David Rutley, the Member of Parliament for Macclesfield, led an assembly at Upton Priory School, as part of the school’s 800th anniversary celebrations of the signing of the Magna Carta.
David led a lively House of Commons style debate with the pupils, on the hot topic of whether homework should be abolished. There were interesting contributions from all sides of the debate, although those in favour of keeping homework narrowly won the debate, much to the relief of the school teachers!
The assembly was just one part of a whole day dedicated by the school to learning more about democracy. Classes worked on a number of subjects during the day, with Year 4 focussing on the democratic traditions of the ancient Greeks, and Year 6 looking at the work of the European Parliament.
David had previously worked closely with Upton Priory, in the run up to the Magna Carta celebrations. In November 2014, David visited the school to launch a flag project, which was run nationwide. The project invited young people from across the UK to collaboratively create a shared picture of democracy.
Each Member of the House of Commons was asked to nominate a primary school to create a flag to represent their constituency. Each flag submitted has been published online and a number were flown Parliament Square at a special event earlier this year.
Speaking following the assembly, David said, “It was great to be able to help young people find out more about our democratic values and how Parliament works. The debate was good fun and it was refreshing to see how engaged the children were in the Magna Carta celebrations. I would like to thank everyone involved at the school.”