What is Democracy?
This week in Year 2 we have been exploring the meaning of democracy and how this has changed throughout history. We discovered that democracy means that our country is ruled by the people and that everybody has the right for their voice to be heard.
We learnt that the government is made up of Members of Parliament (MPs) from different political parties who have been elected by the people to represent their views. During topic we took a journey to the houses of parliament to discover how our laws (bills) are passed.
Can you remember what happens in the House of Commons?
We then held our own debate (just like they do in parliament) to discuss whether a new law should be passed which states that "children can not be given homework by their teachers". After much debate we decided that our homework can help us with our learning and therefore the law should not be passed.
"I think we should have homework because it helps me to remember what I have learnt at school."
What was your opinion?
We then explored whether everybody has always had the right to vote, like we do today. We discovered that whilst men were given the right to vote, women had to fight to be given the same right. We looked into the Suffragette movement and how the women protested to get their voices heard.
Can you remember the difference between the Suffragists and the Suffragettes?
Our week finished with a very exciting opportunity to have our voices heard by electing our own school council representative. We used a ballot paper, just like adults, and posted our vote into the ballot box. We are looking forward to finding out the results next week.
What did you enjoy about voting in our schools election?
