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8J and 8S were fortunate enough to visit the Houses of Parliament recently. The students were invited by Mims Davies, the MP for Mid Sussex, and a current Year 8 parent. The pupils were met at Portcullis House by Mims and by Andrew Griffith, the MP for Arundel and South Downs and introduced what they both do on a day-to-day basis. Following this, they were then given a guided tour, 8S by Mims and 8J by various aides.

They saw Westminster Hall, including the plaques in the floor where influential people had spoken to both houses of parliament in the past. These included Nelson Mandela and Volodymyr Zelensky. There were also plaques marking where people had lain in state. And there were even marks on the floor where so many people had shuffled past the late Queen that they had eroded away the stone floor.

After, they visited St. Mary Undercroft, a chapel completed in 1297, and later used by Cromwell as a stable for his horses. Another interesting visit was to the division lobbies to see where MPs vote, and finally the House of Commons itself. The students all had a fantastic trip, and learned a lot from their visit, with one student saying, “it is certainly a lot smaller than it looks on TV.”