Students from St Edward’s A level Government and Politics courses and A level History courses joined with a selection of students from Years 9 to 11 to meet with a member of the House of Lords, Lord Strathcarron, as he visited the campus in Poole last Friday.  The visit was arranged through the Learn with the Lords programme, which aims to offer students across schools in the UK, the opportunity to learn about the role and function of the House of Lords and put young people’s questions to a Member of the House of Lords during a dedicated Q&A session.

St Edward’s students were fascinated to learn about Lord Strathcarron’s background and of how he came to be a Lord Member and were intrigued by how the House of Lords works within parliament.  A level students found the session particularly valuable to their studies and younger year groups, who had been selected due to their exemplary engagement in leadership and politics topics during their lessons, grew their knowledge and interest around the UK’s political system.

Year 8 student, Amelia, said: “It’s interesting to see behind the scenes of parliament and get Lord Strathcarron’s point of view on current matters as well as getting the insider perspective from things you see in the news.”

Year 10 student, Joseph, said: “It was a really engaging talk and interesting to hear how it all works from a Lord Member’s point of view.”

At the end of the session, students thanked Lord Strathcarron and presented him with a jar of St Edward’s honey, which is harvested on site from the school’s own bee colony.

Lord Strathcarron remarked on his visit and said he received a warm impression of the school: “It was really great to hear the students’ opinions and to find out what inspired them, and I really enjoyed their curiosity towards the topic.  St Edward’s was a lovely, clean school and everyone was very polite and friendly.”

St Edward’s subject leader for History and Government & Politics teacher, Miss Jess Elms, who facilitated the visit, felt that the session was a brilliant way for students to gain a unique and personal insight into a fundamental and historical aspect of UK politics which grew students’ knowledge and experience around this topic exponentially.