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UK Parliament Week is an annual festival which aims to increase young people's engagement with the UK Parliament and empower them to get involved. 

As an official partner of UK Parliament Week 2019, we invited COBIS schools to sign up and run in-school activities from 2-8 November 2019, such as discussions, games and debates. Through these activities, COBIS students were encouraged to engage with the UK Parliament, ask questions, think critically and have their say on issues that matter to them most. 

How did COBIS schools celebrate UK Parliament Week?

Brighton College Abu Dhabi

To recognise UK Parliament Week the BCAD Politics pupils organised two workshops to highlight the importance of engaging in politics and the UK’s parliamentary democracy. The Sixth formers worked with two Year 7 classes with workshops covering ‘General Elections and First Past the Post’ and ‘Debating in the House of Commons’.

The election group covered the process of a general election and how every vote matters through a case study of the North East Fife constituency where the seat was won with a majority of 2 votes! The Year 7 pupils enjoyed the discussion of the upcoming election and a quiz at the end of the workshop.

The debating workshop explained the role of the House of Commons and the Speaker. The Sixth Formers introduced the process of debating and got the students expressing their views on issues such as the use of mobile phones in schools, the school canteen and how to reduce the amount of plastic bottles in the UAE.

The workshops were a great success and it was an excellent opportunity for young people to engage and learn about democracy, and to show decision-makers, teachers and parents that young people care about their communities and want to have a say.

 

British International School of Casablanca

Students from the British International School of Casablanca went on a trip to the Moroccan Parliament in Rabat where they were given a tour of the Parliament and took part in a Q&A session. They learnt about how democracy works in Morocco and were able to see similarities with Parliament in the UK.

Students also visited the British Embassy in Rabat where they met the Ambassador, Thomas Reilly and Deputy Ambassador, Ben Rawlings. Both did an excellent job enlightening the students about Parliament in the UK, how it operates and how the Embassy fits in to the wider context of UK Parliament.

It was a fascinating day out for the students as they were able to learn about Parliament in the UK and closer to home in Morocco.

UK Parliament Week was a brilliant opportunity for the school to promote British Values and for pupils to engage with politics both in Morocco and the UK.