At St Mary’s we are very proud to have an active school council. Our pupils meet regularly to discuss things that are working well for them within the school and things that they would like to see improve. Our Councillors are not shy about getting their teeth stuck into their next project!
Democracy and Voting – Living out our British Values
Visit from our Local MP
You will never guess who visited us in Year 1! None other than the Labour MP for Newcastle Under Lyme, Adam Jogee. Adam was blown away by our letters and wanted to come into school to meet the children to talk about being an MP. He spoke about what inspired him to follow this vocation. The children asked thought-provoking questions to gain a better understanding of his childhood and his job as an MP. He loved their portraits and took the time to look at each one before leaving a personalised message for the children. We hope to see him at St Mary’s again soon.
Election Preparations
We’re getting election ready at St Mary’s Catholic Primary School! In the build up to 4th July, the children will be learning about the UK’s democratic voting system and how our government is formed.
Stay tuned for our whole school General Election Day when the children have their say on which political party they would vote for. ✅
St. Mary’s Question Time
Year 6 took part in a live TV debate and acted as members of the five main political parties. The children were great at putting their party’s manifesto policies forward during the show. They tackled key issues such as: education, the NHS, police, energy and finally, tax. 👮♀️🚑🏠
Manifestos
The children decided which party they wanted to vote for after reading party manifestos. They then visited our very own polling station. It was great for them to experience voting on replica ballot papers just like in they would in real elections!
The children learnt about how we do something called a secret ballot that then gets counted to reveal a winner!
St Mary’s General Election Results
The ballot boxes have been opened, the votes have been counted and the results are in… The children voted for the next Prime Minister to be Keir Starmer!
What a day it has been… thank you to everyone who has made our election a success. The children have thoroughly enjoyed learning about democracy and why it is so important to go out and vote for their future. Ask them about it when you get home!
Our Visit to Parliament
💂What a fabulous trip to London! 💂
Our Year Six School Councillors and their Laudato Si companions travelled down to the capital city today! They went to meet our Local MP, Adam Jogee for Newcastle-under-Lyme , and bumped into a number of political VIPs along the way.
Our first meet was with Caroline Nokes MP, where we got an opportunity to ask about her new role as Deputy Speaker.
Next stop was Nusrat Ghani MP – the first non-white Deputy Speaker of the House. Here, we had a chance to share our ideas about how to prevent the climate crisis from getting worse. She was very impressed with our ideas about the three Rs: Reduce, Reuse and Recycle and our mission to care for our common home.
All this talking made us quite thirsty so we had our first pitstop in the House of Commons private tearoom. Adam treated us to a spot of tea…which to our surprise, was poured into our very own Staffordshire pottery! Here, we quizzed Adam on why he became an MP, what he finds most difficult about the job and how he felt when the election results were announced.
We ended our visit to Parliament with a tour of the houses and had a sneaky peak into today’s Question Time in the chamber. We heard MPs speaking on the recent effects of Storm Darragh and how well our emergency services dealt with the devastating effects.
Our time in London was topped off nicely with an educational trip on the City Sightseeing Bus, where we saw Marble Arch, Buckingham Palace and many more of the famous sights.
Thank you to Adam for this amazing experience and thank you to the PTFA for part-funding the trip. What a way to achieve one of our ‘100 Things to do at St. Mary’s’… We’ll definitely sleep tonight!
Our Leadership Team meets Prospective MP
Our student leadership team met prospective MP Adam Jogee today. He was really keen to get to know the young people of Newcastle-under-Lyme and listen to their hopes for the future. The children gave his team a tour of the school and shared all of the things that they love about it! Adam was so impressed with how articulate and confident the children were.
Thanks Adam for visiting our school and thank you for the complimentary Facebook Post afterwards!
Newcastle-under-Lyme Christmas Tree Project
New Additions to our Family!
Introducing the newest members of our St Mary’s family. We now have 5 hens living at school with us.
To mark International Womens Day today, the school council decided to name them after inspiring women. We would like children across the school to do some research and put forward suggested names, with some information about their chosen woman, so that we can have a vote and name our chickens. Please pass on your suggestions to your class school council member or Pauline. #internationalwomensday
