On Friday 30th November our Year 12 and 13 Government and Politics classes took part in West Oxfordshire District Council’s Politics in Action Day.The students were given the brief of creating an initiative for the Council to introduce and to present the idea to the other West Oxfordshire schools.
Students were also given an insight into national political decision-making as the Rt Hon David Cameron, MP for Witney, paid a special visit. He spent time talking to each of the school teams and took part in a question and answer session led by the students. Each school team was tasked to give a presentation on a topic of their own choice, which they believed would help to improve a council service or benefit the local community.
Speaking to the students about the importance of democracy, elections, voting and the number of new people starting out in politics, Mr Cameron said that it was important to have "good politicians" to get "good politics".
He urged the students to get involved in democracy and added: "It matters that you care about it and that you get involved. This is your chance to get involved in making decisions that affect all of our lives. I hope this spurs you on to realise that a difference can be made to the important issues in our locality, the county, the country and the world, and encourages you to think about how we should try to solve some of the problems that we face."
At the end of the day, all the students voted by secret ballot for the school they thought had come up with the best project idea and presentation.
Although our students did not win they all thoroughly enjoyed their day and came away with renewed enthusiasm and much to consider.
