10. What’s good about where you live?

Around 200 pupils and 50 teaching staff from Kirklees schools took part in the ‘Your voice – speak up, speak out’ school council summit in March 2018 at Huddersfield Town Hall. Each school encouraged young people aged 5 to 11 on their school councils to host a simple hands-on activity  about citizenship, leadership, school values, school council, raising local issues, or anything they chose to showcase that promotes democracy.

One of the activities children were asked to take part in on the day was to write down one good thing about where they live. This is a quick and accessible way of encouraging children and young people to think about what’s important in their local area. Here are just a few of the responses…

 

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100 little deeds for local democracy

To celebrate Vote 100, we’re sharing 100 little ways that citizens in Kirklees are doing something to strengthen our local democracy. If you’ve been inspired by this little deed, why not try it out at a community event where you live? We’d love to hear how you get on: Share your little deeds for local democracy

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9. Girls can do anything they put their minds to…

Laura Murphy, a Politics student at the University of Huddersfield, shared this little deed with us:

With 28th Huddersfield Brownies, who meet at Christ Church Moldgreen, we held a session to talk about what Vote 100 meant and why it was so important for the young girls in the pack.

We started off asking the girls questions like can only men be police officers and can girls play football? They answered these brilliantly letting us know that girls can do anything they put their minds to.

We then went on to ask them about voting and what it was used for. To which they knew that we vote for who runs our country. When we told them that women didn’t always have the ability to vote they were shocked and couldn’t believe that there was a time when women were not allowed to vote and wanted to know how we got the vote.

We told them about the suffragette movement and about the movements that specifically happened in Huddersfield. With this information they then all made ‘Votes for Women’ Bunting and were really excited to know that this campaigning happened in Huddersfield as well as the rest of the country.

by Laura Murphy

Discuss democracy: Girlguiding

 

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100 little deeds for local democracy

To celebrate Vote 100, we’re sharing 100 little ways that citizens in Kirklees are doing something to strengthen our local democracy. If you’ve been inspired by this little deed, why not spend half an hour trying out the same conversation at home? We’d love to hear how you get on: Share your little deeds for local democracy

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8. Not your average bunting

Photo: Gomersal Primary School

This fantastic bunting was created by children at Gomersal Primary School. It was on show at Batley Older People’s Centre on Saturday 24th March 2018 as part of a special event to celebrate International Women’s Day and Vote 100.

The children used images from the past to inspire their creativity and worked hard to produce beautiful pieces of art. They were inspired by old photographs and propaganda posters. While creating the bunting, they learnt some facts about women’s rights in the early 1900s and found out about suffragettes Emmeline Pankhurst and Emily Davison.

Specialist art teacher Mandy Barrett says this is “not your average child made bunting” – and you can see why…

Photo: Gomersal Primary School

Photo: Gomersal Primary School

The event at Batley Older People’s Centre was partly funded by a small grant from the Women’s Vote Centenary Grant Scheme.

Women’s Vote Centenary Grant Scheme

 

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100 little deeds for local democracy

To celebrate Vote 100, we’re sharing 100 little ways that citizens in Kirklees are doing something to strengthen our local democracy. If you’ve been inspired by the children’s creativity, why not try making your own Vote 100 bunting for a community event? We’d love to hear how you get on: Share your little deeds for local democracy

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7. Debating and creating in the classroom

Photo: Gomersal Primary School

Gomersal Primary School recently borrowed the Parliamentary Loan Box from the Education service in Parliament. They have loved using this to create their own House of Commons in their art room. Over 300 children have had the opportunity to recreate debates in this classroom. Year 4 children used the resources to debate about women’s right to vote. The children thought very carefully and discussed the issues carefully.

The school’s younger children have also learnt about the lives of Emmeline Pankhurst and Emily Davison in a lesson linked to their history topic of ‘Famous people who have changed the world’. They worked in the art room to create some beautiful mono prints.

Photo: Gomersal Primary School

Photo: Gomersal Primary School

Specialist art teacher Mandy Barrett has recently trained to be a UK Parliament Teacher Ambassador and will be doing lots more to promote democracy within the school.

You can find out more on the Gomersal Primary School website:

UK Parliament Teacher Ambassador – Gomersal Primary School

 

Here’s where to find UK Parliament resources for schools:

Teacher resources and lesson plans – Parliament Education service

Order a Parliament Loan Box

 

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100 little deeds for local democracy

To celebrate Vote 100, we’re sharing 100 little ways that citizens in Kirklees are doing something to strengthen our local democracy. If you’ve been inspired by the creativity of the Gomersal Primary School community, why not try something similar in your school? We’d love to hear how you get on: Share your little deeds for local democracy

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6. Learning from young women in Huddersfield

Dr Grainne McMahon, University of Huddersfield. Photo by Anthony McKeown.

Dr Grainne McMahon from the University of Huddersfield is researching young women’s political participation – what are the barriers and what do young women want?

Grainne tells us: “We keep saying young people don’t have a voice. Young people do have  voice – they never stop talking. We aren’t listening, that’s the problem…”

Her research shows that young women want a less adversarial political system… “the world would simply be a better place if we had a more gender equal politics. Everyone has got to contribute.”

This talk was one of the Notwestminster 2018 Lightning talks at The Media Centre in Huddersfield on Saturday 17th February 2018. You can watch Grainne’s talk on YouTube:

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100 little deeds for local democracy

To celebrate Vote 100, we’re sharing 100 little ways that citizens in Kirklees are doing something to strengthen our local democracy. If you’ve been inspired by Grainne’s talk, why not do something to find out more about what young women in Kirklees think about politics? We’d love to hear how you get on: Share your little deeds for local democracy

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