UK Parliament Week pupils from 21 Cornish schools visit council’s HQ to learn about democracy

UK Parliament Week: Pupils from 21 Cornish schools visit council’s HQ to learn about democracy Video supplied by Cornwall Council

Transcript

00:00 Well, we're here in New County Hall and we've just had a lot of children from a range of

00:06 schools from the Aspire Academy taking part in a wonderful session about Cornwall Council,

00:14 how democracy works. And I think it's been a really positive session. The children have

00:19 been really, really engaged. And I think there's a few lessons that senior politicians could

00:24 actually learn at this place as well. Right. Absolutely. I think what I've taken away from

00:31 this is the energy and the enthusiasm of these young people. I mean, they are all years five

00:37 and six, I think. But the maturity of the questions, some of the questions they asked

00:44 were really quite insightful. And particularly I was in the budget session and their rationale

00:52 for giving money to various different pots was very interesting. But as regards their

00:58 behaviour, frankly, as Dick says, some of the senior politicians could actually take

01:04 a lot from what they learnt today. So it's been a real eye opener for me. And I think

01:12 it increases yet again my belief that we have to engage much more with our young people.

01:20 And interestingly, I talked to a couple of the adults that were with the children and

01:27 they said they had learnt an awful lot as well. So I think there may be a lesson for

01:32 us as Cornwall Council as to how we make what we do seem accessible, interesting and relevant

01:41 to people. I think we've certainly enjoyed it as well

01:45 as they have. And I think we both help out on these sessions quite regularly. And again,

01:53 it's such an important thing to do. We're pleased to be able to help out.

01:57 Yes. I wish we had the capacity to do more of these because this, I think, is the way

02:03 we set our councillors up for the future.

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