News Date: Wednesday 5th April 2006
Chesswood School gets a taste of Parliament
East Worthing MP Tim Loughton paid a visit to Chesswood primary school in East Worthing last Thursday as part of a 'Democracy Day' exercise. He spoke to a group of 9 and 10 year olds about his job as an MP and then acted as the Speaker in a debate which the pupils had prepared in the style of the House of Commons.
The classes divided into those in favour of a proposal to save money in Worthing by closing the hospital or closing the Aquarena.
Tim commented:
"The pupils had been learning about the origins of democracy in classical Greece and were very keen to bombard me with a whole host of questions about what an MP gets up to, not least what we earn!
"They had done a lot of homework for their mock debate and once they had got into the swing of things they were certainly not short of things to say. They were particularly vociferous on their 'hear hears' and 'rubbish'.
"Fortunately they voted in favour of saving the hospital at the end of the day but had some very intelligent things to say about the problems with shortage of doctors and travel times trying to get to alternative hospitals. This was a really good exercise and I pay tribute to Chesswood School for getting their pupils interested in how democracy works. I hope they will be able to pay a visit to Westminster to see Parliament in action at some stage."
ENDS
?, Tim Loughton MP , 2006
