On Tuesday, a group of twenty six post 16 politics students visited the Houses of Parliament in London.

The students and staff took a train to the capital where they enjoyed the Tour of Parliament Experience. Inside Parliament, they saw Westminster Hall, The House of Lords and the Lobby. The students were also lucky enough to visit the House of Commons Gallery where they witnessed ministerial questions being given to David Lammy (Foreign Secretary) by Priti Patel (Shadow Foreign Secretary). Having seen this debate, the students and staff went to Portcullis House and the students asked a series of questions to Robert Jenrick, Newark MP and Shadow Justice Secretary, who had asked an ‘urgent question’ in the morning’s debate. Rt Hon Robert Jenrick met and spoke to the students for over an hour.

Our post 16 students were then taken to the House of Commons balcony which has a spectacular view of the London skyline. On the way, our students and staff also bumped into James Cleverly, former Home and Foreign Secretary, and some of the students shook his hand. 
Having left Parliament the students were given some free time in London. They walked to Buckingham Palace, Kensington Palace, Chinatown, St James’ Park, Downing Street, the Supreme Court, Whitehall, and even the Broad Street pump that many of the students had learned about in the Medicine through Time course at GCSE.
The trip was partly organised by Ruby Simpson who left Tuxford last year and is currently working in Parliament. She is the youngest aide to an MP in the country. Ruby achieved exceptional A Level results (A*AA in history, politics and maths) and was keen to invite students from her former school to her new place of work.  We are extremely proud of Ruby’s achievements and thank her for helping to organise such an incredible and inspiring trip!