St. George's at Parliament

Last week, I was very excited to be invited by St. George's School to join pupils on a visit to the House of Commons to discuss anti-social behaviour and knife crime, as part of their Citizenship work.

I was really impressed with the presentations I watched - young people discussing serious issues in a mature, practical manner; asking the right questions; and demanding the right kind of support from government. I listened to four separate presentations, each of which took a part of the knife crime debate and sought to explore it sensibly and sensitively.

What particularly impressed me about the event, however, was the willingness of the pupils to enter into debate afterwards. They knew as much as anyone in the room that issues such as knife crime have to be a dialogue - that there are no hard-and-fast answers and that it takes time to change attitudes and behaviour. They were also willing to listen and debate the answers they put forward - many of which I agreed with (the need to treat young people respectfully, the need for more after-school activities, the need to challenge stereotypes) and a few which I wasn't so sure about (the answer to everything is not always more CCTV!)

I have to say when 'Citizenship' classes were first mooted several years ago, I thought the whole concept sounded like just another headline-grabbing gimmick. I've changed my mind. What St. George's has shown me in the last year is that they allow young people the opportunity to debate very serious issues affecting our communities in a sensible and rational manner.

Many thanks once again to the pupils from St. George's and their teacher, Mr. Menzies, for inviting me to be part of the debate.

Lee