Photo – Alan Mak MP with pupils from St James’ Primary School, Emsworth.
Havant MP Alan Mak welcomed students of St James’ Primary School, Emsworth, to take part in a lively Q&A session on their visit to Parliament. Mr Mak hosted an informal session with a group of 34 Year 6 pupils from the highly-commended church school, which received an ‘Outstanding’ rating from Ofsted following its most recent report in 2013.
The students enjoyed a tour around the Palace of Westminster before meeting their local MP Alan Mak. Alan gave a short background to his role as Member for Havant before opening up the discussion to the floor.
Last year, the new education centre was opened at the Palace of Westminster, providing dedicated state-of-the-art facilities and additional capacity for schools and other groups visiting Parliament. The new centre will allow one million school children to visit Parliament over the next decade.
Mak said “I was delighted to welcome the students and staff of St James’ to Parliament today. I have established strong links to the school following my visit and hope to support the excellent work they are doing as an educational stalwart in Emsworth.”
He added, “It is a terrific school with a fantastic outlook on education. St James’s passion for a supportive and nurturing learning environment will prepare these pupils well for their first steps into adult life. I hope that they enjoyed their visit to Westminster today.”
Key Stage 2 co-ordinator Rob Gallop, who led the trip from St James’, heralded the day as a great success. Mr Gallop said, “It is wonderful that the kids have an opportunity to come to such an inspiring place.”
“We must safeguard and invest in education, and today shows that Alan subscribes to this view. It is terrific that our local MP is taking time out to speak to our students and you can tell that Alan always makes our area his priority in Parliament.”
Mr Mak has been a keen promoter of local schools since his election as Havant’s MP in May 2015. As a former primary school governor and secondary school careers mentor, he has led campaigns to improve teaching standards in core subjects such as maths and science. Mak also champions larger investment in the teaching of engineering and technology to equip the younger generation to compete in the global ‘knowledge economy’.
--