Badminton School, in Westbury-on-Trym, hosted a talk from a member of the House of Lords on Friday 4 November 2011 to encourage students to engage more with the political and parliamentary process. Lord Rosser met with Sixth Form History and Politics students for an hour to talk about the work and role of the House of Lords which was followed by a question and answer session on various aspects of the parliamentary process and life at Westminster.
Melissa Stimson, Head of History and Politics at Badminton said: “This has been an exciting opportunity for our pupils to interact with someone who knows the parliamentary system inside out as it can sometimes seem far removed from their daily lives. Many of our girls go onto study Politics at university and to understand exactly how the House of Lords improves draft laws, investigates public policy and challenges Government action through questioning and debating – something we very much encourage here at Badminton – has been extremely insightful.”
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 30,000 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.