SCHOOL COUNCIL TRIP TO THE HOUSES OF PARLIAMENT!

On Tuesday 20^th January, the School Council, competition winners, Mrs Wishart and Mr Canning met up by the school’s main entrance at 7:45am. The atmosphere was electric! We were going to the Houses of Parliament for an educational trip. The 15 children and 2 adults piled into the massive Johnson’s Coach with no idea of what the day would bring!

The coach journey was incredibly long - just under 3 hours! Some people read, slept, wrote, played games, or simply watched the view, and then we were there!

As soon as we got off the coach, we looked around at the vast capital city! Right in front of us stood The London Eye, Big Ben and The Houses of Parliament! Those of us who had cameras went wild! Three of England’s main landmarks, here, all in one place! And that was just the beginning…

After a short walk, we reached security! Our bags were scanned, and then we excitedly walked through the metal detector ourselves! Mrs Wishart bleeped! Consequently she had to stand in a T shape, with her arms out, whilst the security man checked her with a smaller metal detector! Then, she had to turn round and do the same again! For some reason, it seemed like it was her SHOES that were setting the alarm off, and not her lovely jewels! Then they gave us all these long lanyards to wear that proved that we’d been through security.

Once through security, we went inside into Westminster Hall! It was GIGANTIC! The stained glass windows gleamed in the sunlight, casting shadows into the room, which were tinted with all of the colours in the rainbow!!!  The massive hall dwarfed us, and was full to the brim of camera men, reporters and schools! This was the 750^th anniversary of the first ever type of Parliament!

Then, we met our tour guide. He was a kind, jolly man called Eric, who looked incredibly intelligent! As we walked round, we stopped at nearly every room, whilst he told us lots of fun, fascinating facts! Here our 10 top facts for you to enjoy:  

1.) The Houses of Parliament is a palace – kings and queens lived there until a fire when Henry VIII left and moved to a different palace!

2.) It is 750 years to the day the first ever parliament sat in Westminster!
3.) 200 years ago was the battle of Waterloo and there is a giant painting on one of the walls of the battlefield. Another painting is of the Battle of Trafalgar (at this battle Lord Nelson died and his body was stored in a barrel of French Brandy before returning to England).
4.) Queen Victoria’s height was less than 5ft (that is why she always had a stool under her legs on the throne, so that her legs didn’t dangle!). The current Queen, Elizabeth II, has nearly reigned as long as Queen Victoria!
5.) The monarch is not allowed in the House of Commons so we can (and have) gone further than her! The Queen only comes to Parliament for 45 minutes a year, during the state opening of Parliament, and she is only allowed in the House of Lords.
6.) In the House of Lords and Commons you are not allowed to sit on the seats unless you are an MP or a Lord or Lady.
7.) In the House of Lords, every person has a time limit to speak! An alarm clock goes off at exactly 5 minutes!

After learning all of these facts, all we had time for was lunch, the souvenir shop and the long trip back home!

Thanks for reading about our exciting trip to the Palace of Westminster!

Mirabella, Year 5. 

This was taken right next to Westminster Hall (which is nearly 1000 years old!)

This photo was taken outside the Palace of Westminster.

We really enjoyed our guided tour of the Houses of Parliament.