On Friday 3rd February, we were visited by Daniel Zeichner, MP for Cambridge. Daniel visited Ridgefield following a visit by Year 6 to the Houses of Parliament in November. He started by talking to all the children in KS2 about his role and what it means to be an MP. This was followed up by around 15 minutes of questions and answers.
Following on from this assembly, Daniel moved through with Year 6 to their classroom, where they asked more detailed follow up questions for another half-an-hour.
The children quizzed him on his motivation for becoming an MP, his family history and whether he enjoys his work or not. Daniel said that he had not been
asked so many questions about himself for a long time! He is often asked about policy decisions or what his political party would do differently if they were in power. However, the children were far more interested in understand what the role entails and why anyone would want to do it.
After Daniel was grilled by the children of Year 6 it was his turn with Mr. Axten-Higgs! They discussed the state of school funding and the impact that the recent strikes were having on the primary sector. Mr. Axten-Higgs was particularly motivated to press upon him the impact of the chronic underfunding of Special Educational Needs within education and the impact that this black hole was having on schools across the state sector.
All in all, it was interesting to have a visit by an MP to Ridgefield. The children were incredibly welcoming, incredibly interested and polite. This visit now completes a kind of hat-trick particularly for Year 6, who have now visited the Houses of Parliament, meet a member of the House of Lords and met a member of the House of Commons all within 4 months!