Acacias Community Primary School
Manchester Rights Respecting Pupil Parliament
25th January, 2019 – The Launch – Manchester Enterprise Academy (MEA), Wythenshawe
The Manchester 'Rights Respecting' Pupil Parliament was launched in January of this year, and is the first-ever pupil parliament in Manchester made up of primary school children. Ahead of the launch our Rights Respecting MPs prepared a short video to introduce ourselves to the other participating schools.
The project draws together 68 Year 5 children representing 17 schools across Manchester, all of which are accredited as 'Rights Respecting' schools by UNICEF. The launch was a huge success with several key note speakers, including Councillor Luthfur Rahman, Executive Member for Schools, Culture and Leisure at Manchester City Council and Mike Kane, the MP for Wythenshawe and Sale East.
The objective of the first phase of the Pupil Parliament is to launch a campaign in our respective schools centred around one of the global goals for sustainable development outlined by the UN in their plan to improve our planet by 2030.
As a parliament, the children debated and ranked the 17 global goals for sustainable development and linked these to the Rights of the Child. The top five goals were voted on by parliament members to create the final shortlist:
- No Poverty (86%)
- Gender Equality (71%)
- Good Health & Well-being (71%)
- Peace, Justice & Strong Institutions (57%)
- Climate Action (43%)
Our Key Stage 2 children have spent time over the spring term learning about these goals, and were asked to vote on the one they felt should be the top priority for our school’s campaign. Here are the voting results from a total of 223 votes:
- No Poverty - 56 votes (25.1%)
- Climate Change - 51 votes (22.9%)
- Good Health & Wellbeing - 45 votes (20.2%)
- Peace, Justice & Strong Institutions - 40 votes (17.9%)
- Gender Equality - 31 votes (13.9%)
It was close vote with a wide range of opinions, but in the end the pupils voted to focus our school's campaign on ending poverty.
2nd May 2019 – Ashbury Meadow Primary School, Beswick
Having decided to focus on ending poverty, our MPs needed to research different issues linked to this global goal in order to make an informed decision about which issue to campaign on.
Our MPs worked alongside parliament members from other schools who also voted for ending poverty to strengthen their knowledge around four key aspects of poverty: food, water, shelter and health.
Back in school, MPs and School Council members ultimately decided to focus on tackling food poverty as our campaign issue.
Why have we chosen to tackle Food Poverty?
- Over 5.8 million people in the UK live in deep poverty meaning they lack access to healthy affordable food.
- The gap between rich and poor has reached its highest level in in 30 years.
- Manchester has some of the highest rates of child poverty in the UK – particularly in Gorton, Blackley and Central Manchester.
- The number of people using food banks has increased to record levels in recent years with 1.6 million people accessing a food bank in the UK in 2018.
- Over 160,000 emergency food parcels were given out last December in Manchester alone.
19th June, 2019 – St. Mary’s CE Primary School, Moss Side
The children worked alongside other schools to begin designing their campaigns around tackling food poverty. They researched facts about food poverty in Manchester to use in their campaigns, and discussed ideas for slogans, social media campaigns and possible events, which could take place in school next term.
In addition, representatives from the Manchester Youth Council spoke with the children about the work they do, and the difference their campaigns have made in the city - particularly towards tackling hate crime. Finally, the children were asked to give their views to Chris Webb, from Manchester City Council's Children and Young People's Department, about what makes them feel happy, healthy, safe and successful. This was to inform long-term planning for the CYP department to ensure it is informed by children and young people themselves.
September, 2019 - Houses of Parliament, Westminster, London
We were extremely privileged to be given the opportunity to visit the Houses of Parliament to learn about the importance of using our voice to have a political impact.
When we finally arrived, we went on the underground to Green Park where we switched lines to the Jubilee Line. We got off at Westminster and had our lunch at Victoria Park. We then went to the Education Centre, passed through security and locked our bags in a cage. Following this, we collected our identity lanyards and entered the Houses of Parliament.
Once inside, we explored the House of Lords. We saw the Queen’s throne and a big statue of Queen Victoria, who signed “VR” everywhere in her private dressing room. Then we went to the House of Commons. In both the House of Lords and House of Commons, we weren’t allowed to sit - only lords, baronesses and MPs are allowed to sit there. We went to a work shop in the Education Centre where we talked about ideas for our school campaign about reducing poverty in Manchester. We all got a chance to speak, which follows Article 12: Your right to use a voice and be listened to.
After the work shop, we had a break and saw the River Thames. We walked towards the National Gallery, then passed Buckingham Palace. We watched a parade of guards switching duty. After that, we went to Pizza Express where we had margherita pizza and ice cream. Finally, we got the underground to the train station, caught a train home and arrived in Stockport Station at 9:15pm. A minibus taxi
brought us back to school at around 9:30pm. We felt very tired as it was a long journey; but it was a very good experience and a memorable day to remember.
20th November, 2019 - Manchester city centre
On Wednesday 20th November, 2019, ten dedicated members of our Acacias School Parliament went into Central Manchester for a massive event – the 30th anniversary of the the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC). Fourteen other schools also gathered to march and make speeches.
Last year, our school had voted to campaign on the first of the UN Global Goals for Sustainable Development: ending food poverty. Other schools had chosen a different Global Goal, such as climate change or gender equality. Food poverty is a really bad thing, because people living on the streets might not have any food for a long time and it seriously affects their mental and physical health. We read our campaign speech to the crowds who had come to listen. It was very nerve-wracking because we were saying it to almost 500 people – that’s over half the population of Vatican City! When we were finished, it made me feel very good about myself. We then marched around Albert Square, holding our banners and saying our chants. Ours was: “Food poverty is a crime, the right for all to dine!” We also had a second chant, which was “The right for all to eat, food poverty to beat!”
We had made a big banner and flags to wave about. When we gave our speeches, lots of people passing by stopped to listen. When we were marching, lots of people waved and some took photos. It was really exciting! The next day, our deputy head teacher – Mr Litchfield – who had helped us create our campaign, told us that we had been on the Manchester Evening News website! We were amazed! Everyone really enjoyed going on the march and we hope that we will help to stop food poverty for some people through our campaign. Everyone has the right to be treated equally (Article 2) and to have a good standard of living (Article 27).
1st December, 2021 - St Mary's CoE Primary School, Moss Side, Manchester
Our first Manchester Pupil Parliament meeting post-lockdown saw 12 silver and gold Rights Respecting schools meeting at St Mary's Primary in Moss Side.
First, we were greeted and shown to our tables by St Mary’s pupils - who kindly offered us refreshments. Then, our very own Lucia did a presentation about Greta Thunberg and the five main methods she uses for her voice to be heard around the world. This got a big round of applause! After that, all the schools made their own presentation about someone who has made a difference by being brave and standing up for the rights of others. We were given Colin Kaepernick to research and then present to the room – he was the first person to ‘take the knee’ before a sporting event in support of Black Lives Matter. Now it was lunchtime, so we went out on their playground (Article 31: Your right to relax and play) and ate our food. Whilst we were on the playground we had a lot of fun, but we had to stay in our bubbles. After lunch, Manchester Youth Council came to talk to us about climate change and how we – the next generation of political leaders – can help to make the world a better place. They showed us a wheel/chart designed by high school children, which had ideas on how schools and communities can become more green and sustainable.
Finally, we were asked for some ideas about how we wanted to celebrate Manchester’s Year of the Child in 2022 (Article 12: Your right to a voice and to be heard). We said that we wanted to make a giant piece of artwork whereas other schools wanted to have festivals and parades. They informed us that we would hopefully meet again in February to discuss the ideas in more detail and that rounded up our day. Although it was hard work, we still had a blast.
29th March, 2022 - Beaver Road Primary School, Didsbury, Manchester
Everyone felt a bit more relaxed at our second post-lockdown get together. The sun shone as we collectively explored the concept of play across the school site. We also shared ideas on what we thought a child-friendly city should look like.
24th May, 2022 - The Willows Primary School, Wythenshawe, Manchester
On Tuesday 24th May, a group of us from Years 5 and 6 travelled by taxi to The Willows Primary School, Wythenshawe for the third meeting of the Manchester Pupil Parliament. The purpose of the meeting was to interact with other Manchester Pupil Parliamentarians and discuss a range of different topics, especially about how to make Manchester a safer, more child friendly city. This relates to Article 12: Your right to a voice and to be listened to. Over 40 pupils from 11 schools attended the meeting. We discussed where we felt safe around our schools and neighbourhoods, then used Digi-Maps (an app) to label any issues. For example, one pupil said ‘’I think we could make Manchester a safer place by reducing traffic near schools.”
The meeting finished with the children deciding to produce a pupil survey to gather more opinions about how to make our city a safer space for young people (Article 19: Your right to be kept safe and not be harmed). Children from Acacias will be contributing to this. The results from the survey will be presented to the leaders of Manchester City Council at their annual Safeguarding Conference on 6th July. We hope that this will lead to the council listening to our views and taking action.
