Make Your Mark
UK Parliament
As part of our Asdan studies and Make Your Mark, The Key have been learning all about UK Parliament. Make Your Mark is an opportunity for 11-18 year olds within the UK to have their say and start their democratic journey by voting on policies they would like to introduce or change. It is a British Youth Council campaign which is supported by the UK Parliament.
The project has looked at how UK Parliament makes laws and checks and challenges the work that is done by UK Government. Our students have learned the difference between the Houses of Parliament and Commons and the roles that each of them play.
Students discussed how local and national issues are debated in Parliament, how the Prime Minister and other Ministers are questioned and how select committees look at issues in detail taking into account the views of the public and experts in order to make recommendations to the Government. We discussed how this work can be viewed live on TV and online, so that we can monitor the Government’s day to day running of our country.
The importance of democracy and the differences of opinion are stressed as part of an inclusive society. Our young people learned how we should always listen to and respect the views of others, even if they are different from ours. We have learnt that we have the right to have our views represented in UK Parliament by our MP's and that we can choose who makes these decisions on our behalf. We discovered that we can register to vote at the age of 16 and we can vote in a general election from the age of 18. This is just as important to our students as it is for other young people in schools around the country and those from the SEND community.
UK Parliament week has highlighted issues that are relevant and important to us, as young people, in our local area and nationally. There has been a wide range of different issues discussed including :
- pollution and environmental issues,
- the impact of Covid-19 on the future of young people and plans for recovery,
- discrimination and racism,
- human rights,
- access to training and employment,
- young people’s voices being heard in creating local services, leisure and culture, improving places for young people to go and things to do,
- access to technology and broadband for education,
- childhood poverty,
- transport.
Our pupils have done us proud, proving to be very mature, listening without taking sides, and giving their views after consideration, with empathy. Nearly all of our young people placed votes on one UK-wide and one local issue that they would like to have debated in Parliament, with the purpose of making change for a better life for young people both now and in the future.
For more information on UK Parliament Week go to:
