WEYDON School hosted a talk from a member of the House of Lords recently to encourage students to become more engaged with the political and parliamentary process.

Baroness Parminter met with year 11 students 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 and both international and domestic issues.

Deputy headteacher Stuart Maginnissaid: “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.

“It was also a real privilege for me to sit in the audience with our students as they debated with the Baroness.”

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 75,000 young people.