Student Council visits the Houses of Parliament, 9th May 2011

Ten students from Queen Eleanor’s student council visited the Houses of Parliament on Monday 9th May at the invitation of MP Nick Boles.

We arrived early and spent some time in Westminster Hall where President Obama will soon address parliament. We were met by our guide Francis who was fantastic and kept us all engaged with information about parliament that you would probably not glean from text books!

We followed the Queen’s route as she opens the state opening of parliament spending time in Victoria Tower where she told us that Parliament actually comes from the French, “parley”, and was brought over from France during the Norman Conquest.

The Queen’s robing room was amazing! The theme was that of King Arthur and there were fantastic frescos and carvings depicting the story. We also saw the chair of state made especially for queen Victoria which showed how tiny she was.

The Prince’s chamber was decorated with portraits of the Tudors and of much interest were Henry VIII and his six wives. We were particularly moved by the statue of Sir Winston Churchill and the damaged archway, known today as Churchill’s Arch, which was left as it was as a reminder of the bravery of those who fought and lived in WWII.

The tour took us into the House of Lords and the House of Commons and it felt like a historical moment to be standing where countless Prime Ministers have stood and debated issues of state. Students enjoyed finding out where the expression, “it’s in the bag”, came from – the fact that a green bag actually hangs by the speakers chair and that in the past petitions from people were placed there to be discussed in Parliament.

At the end of the tour Nick Boles had arranged for us to meet him and his new researcher, Hayyan Bhabha, a past pupil of Queen Eleanor, and for the students to ask him questions.

We found out that what he disliked most was long nights, sometimes until 4am, listening to debates. What he enjoys most was meeting and helping his constituents. Thia Guy said, “I had a very good day today. The best bit was visiting the houses of Parliament and meeting our MP, Nick Boles.”

To make the most of our day we went on to the Natural History Museum and Covent Garden before returning home at 7pm.