Antony has been leading a ‘mock parliament’ tour across schools across Burnley and Padiham where pupils recreate the House of Commons in an interactive learning experience which aims to teach the workings of Westminster.
So far he's been welcomed at:
- St John’s Primary School in Burnley
- St Joseph’s Park Hill
- Whittlefield Primary School
- St Peter's Church of England Primary School
- Olive High School
- Padiham Primary School
- Hapton Primary School
- St Augustine's of Canterbury Primary School
- Heasonford Primary School
- St John’s Primary School in Padiham
- St Stephen's CoE Primary School
Antony has been using the visits to talk about his role and then hold these ‘mock parliaments’ with the aim of encouraging young people to be interested in politics and democracy.
Commenting he said:
These mock parliaments are a new way of teaching children about how it works in Westminster. We basically setup our own version of the House of Commons and get the children to discuss ideas that gets them talking.
Nothing like this was available to me when I was in school but I think it’s important as it drives aspiration and gives every child the confidence to know that they can be anything they want to be.
The students become really engaged and you can see their confidence start to increase. It’s been great and I look forward to visiting yet more of our local schools over the coming months.