St. Clement's Visit London

8th July 2015

On Wednesday, we took the School Councillors, Head and Deputy Head Boy and Girl to visit London to thank them for their hard work in supporting St Clement’s.

We travelled down on the trains and played several games of I Spy to help pass the time. We then rode on the London Underground which was a bumpy ride but we managed to stay upright by holding onto each other!

The group arrived at the River Thames and we walked along the embankment until we arrived at Westminster. We saw the Elizabeth Tower (more commonly known as Big Ben) and we paid a quick visit to Number 10 Downing Street where we met lots of police officers. The group then headed back to Westminster for our tour.

The helpful Westminster staff showed us the House of Lords, which is where bills from the House of Commons go to be approved, before being sent to the Queen for her royal signature. The House of Lords has a throne where the Queen can sit, as well as a foot stool in case she wants to rest her feet.

We also learnt that seats in the House of Lords are red and seats in the House of Commons are green. The Houses are not supposed to talk to each other, which is why they have separate entrances and even separate bridges across the River Thames.

Afterwards, the children took part in a workshop to propose a new bill. Zaynab suggested a bill called ‘Stop NHS Cuts’ and the children had a lively debate about the good and bad points of the bill. Tavani and Kiana wore the speaker’s robes and presided over the discussion, deciding who would be allowed to speak. After the debate, the children voted to approve the bill and it became an Act of Parliament!

Following our exciting trip to Westminster, we climbed aboard the London Eye, which is a giant Ferris wheel on the South Bank. It used to be called the Millennium Eye because it was opened to celebrate the Millennium in the year 2000. We had our own private pod, which carried us 135 metres into the air.

The views of London from the top were fantastic. We saw Buckingham Palace, the Shard, Cleopatra’s Needle, Horse Guards Parade and a building shaped like a walkie-talkie. We also saw MI6, which is where James Bond works!

The children were brilliant ambassadors for St Clement’s. Efrem knew the answers to nearly every question asked by the tour guides and everyone we met said the children were well-behaved and enthusiastic. As a governor, I was very proud to take School Council on this trip.

I am sure some members of School Council will be working in Westminster one day!

Mr Fairbanks - School Governor