UK Parliament Week which runs from 12th - 18th November 2018, sees people of all ages across the UK, from Orkney to the Isle of Wight, take part in events and activities that engage them with the UK Parliament, explore what it means to them, and empowers them to get involved. You can also get involved on Twitter by following @YourUKParl.
There are lots of resources to support you in schools during this week.
UK Parliament have created some short and handy videos explaining how the UK Parliament works for you to use during your event, or to brush up on your facts before hand! The video below describes how Parliament works in nearly 60 seconds. You can find all the videos on their YouTube page.
UK Parliament Week 2018 forms a part of the UK Parliament’s Vote 100 programme, which celebrates 100 years since the first women got the vote. They have compiled some resources to help you explore the struggle for equal suffrage during your UK Parliament Week event or activity.
As part of Vote 100, women share their personal stories of how laws passed by Parliament have changed their lives for the better. #YourStoryOurHistory, are three short films focusing on laws that have contributed to women’s rights and continued to empower them.
They also have lots of age-specific learning resources about the UK Parliament, its work and its history at parliament.uk/education.
The resources cover lesson plans, assemblies, booklets and games including MP for a week. Challenge your students to survive a week in politics and keep their party, their voters and the media happy. Students are scored according to the decisions they make. The game adapts to players by setting less or more demanding tasks depending on how well they're doing. The game gives young people a virtual taste of life as an MP. Highlighting the range and value of MPs' work, the game builds students' understanding of the role of a Member of Parliament.
Why not invite your local MP into school, they can offer excellent insight into the work of Parliament, as well as answering questions that your students may have. Find out who your local MP is and how to contact them.
LGfL has worked in partnership with The Royal Collection to create a unique resource about the daily work of The Royal Mews at Buckingham Palace. Exclusive access has been granted to LGfL to film the key staff members as they go about their daily work. The resource features extensive video resources showing the techniques and rationale as to why centuries old traditions continue to support the Royal Household and the significance they have for wider society, including the State Opening of Parliament.
In the ‘Pupil Parliament’ resource, students can see how one London school has modelled its student council on the British Parliament. This includes the inner-workings of raising an issue and how it might develop to become a parliamentary motion. Pupils give insight into their roles, ambitions and achievements as Cabinet Ministers. ‘In the Community’ showcases how, through developing speaking and listening skills, young people’s voices can reach wide-ranging audiences and how they can make a difference! The Lewisham Young Mayors’ Group is one such example.
You can also research Parliament via The Guardian and The Observer News Archive. The LGfL News Archive is an online collection of the Guardian and Observer newspapers. It contains every Guardian newspaper printed from 1821 and every Sunday Observer from 1791, making it the oldest Sunday newspaper in the world. The newspapers are an amazing historical record of all the events over the past two centuries and an extensive resource to be used across the whole of the Secondary curriculum as well as at UKS2.
What ever you chose to do for UK Parliament Week, why not share your work on our Twitter or Facebook pages