NORTH East Hampshire MP Ranil Jayawardena has visited Lord Wandsworth College for the first time. Mr Jayawardena won the North East Hampshire constituency in the 2015 general election, with a near-30,000 majority over the Liberal Democrats.

After meeting with headmaster Adam Williams and discussing their shared love of cricket, Mr Jayawardena was taken on a tour of the college by pupils, Alvin Boateng (third form) and Grace Desouza (sixth form). He also met a sixth form economics class, who proved that political engagement in the young is alive and well with a raft of searching questions about his thoughts on the EU and the NHS.

Mr Jayawardena was impressed with the work the college is doing with local primary and secondary schools and interested to hear of the community projects LWC pupils are involved with.

He was particularly moved to hear more about the college’s foundation, which helps children who have lost the support of one or both parents through death, divorce or separation and require a caring and supportive boarding environment.

The headmaster, Adam Williams, said, “We were delighted to meet Mr Jayawardena and show him the range of experiences and opportunities here at Lord Wandsworth College. In return, he has kindly offered to host a group of our pupils at the Houses of Parliament later in the year which is an extremely exciting opportunity.”

Mr Jayawardena added, “It was great to visit Lord Wandsworth College and see first-hand the range of exciting community projects the students are participating in. I very much enjoyed my Q&A with the pupils- it’s wonderful to see such a keen interest in politics and I look forward to meeting the children again in Westminster in due course.”