Year 6 visited the capital of England! As soon as we arrived in central London, we noticed Ben – it was enormous!

We walked through St James’s Park and saw the ducks and geese. As it was a sunny day, we had our picnic there. After that we walked up the Mall to see Buckingham Palace. In front of it, is the shiny, golden Queen Victoria’s monument.

We saw Downing Street and the Cenotaph (a statue that represents Remembrance Day) on our way to Horse Guards Parade. There were many guards and soldiers in uniform and on horses.

In the afternoon, we headed to the Houses of parliament Education Centre. Once we went through security, we visited the Palace of Westminster where the late queen laid in state. There was a golden coach on display. Our guide told us about how Guy Fawkes tried to blow up parliament.

We walked through Central Lobby which is where many news programmes are filmed. On our way, we passed many paintings, statues of past prime ministers like Winston Churchill and the Iron Lady, Margaret Thatcher, as well as beautiful ceiling designs. We were allowed to enter the House of Commons. All the coverings were green leather and we were not allowed to sit down anywhere because the public had not voted us in. There were many microphones so all speakers could be heard.  We were very lucky to see the House of Lords (which has all red leather covers) in session (having a live debate) from the public gallery.

At our workshop, we learned about how laws are made and met a real lord, Lord Russell of Liverpool. He explained that he inherited his title of lord from his grandfather. He also told us how the House of Lords scrutinise and debate all laws carefully as part of their job. We had to decide on whether we believed some laws were true or false. Some of them were very old-fashioned and quite silly. One of the ones that is true is that whoever catches a sturgeon in England must offer it to the monarch first. A sturgeon is a fish that has the delicacy caviar (fish eggs).

Quotes from children:

“I loved seeing Big Ben” – Jibraan

“My favourite part of the day was the light sculpture, ‘The Suffrage’, at the top of the door going into parliament from the Palace of Westminster” – Aleena and Khadija)

“It was educational but fun. I liked seeing the House of Lords and actually meeting a real lord!” – Hashim

“I loved the houses of parliament” – Fatima

“It was nice to see the House of Commons in person” – Sarah

“I liked the houses of parliament and enjoyed seeing Buckingham Palace close up” – Rania

“I enjoyed watching the house of Lords in action” – Mustafa