The Rt Hon Lord Hunt of Kings Heath OBE met with Year 11 and Sixth Form students in early March for an hour to talk about the work and role of the House of Lords. This was followed by a question and answer session on various aspects of the parliamentary process and life at Westminster generally.
Charlotte Smith, director of studies at Saint Martin’s said: “This was a fantastic opportunity for our students to interact with someone who knows the parliamentary system inside out, as it can sometimes seem far removed from their daily lives.”
Pictured with Lord Hunt are some of the budding women of influence from the Upper Sixth about to embark on their university careers: Grace Pattinson (International Relations, Exeter), Alice Mottram (English and Philosophy, Cambridge), Harsha Parmar (Ancient History, Exeter), Emma McMullen (History, Sheffield) and Sarah O’Connor (Medicine, Bristol).
The visit was arranged through the Lord Speaker’s ‘Peers in Schools’ programme, which has been running across the UK since 2007 and has so far involved around 50,000 young people. This continuing outreach programme sends members of the House of Lords into schools and colleges across the country to give talks in support of the citizenship curriculum.
For further information, see the Lord Speaker’s web page at www.parliament.uk/lordspeaker .