high hesket ce primary school

Rory  last week welcomed children from High Hesket CE Primary School to Parliament where they won a prestigious parliamentary prize for their work on the internet. The five pupils received the £1,200 prize, on the behalf of their class, having been the Regional Winners in the North-West section of the Make IT Happy competition. Make IT Happy celebrates the excellent and inspirational work that the UK’s primary schools are doing to promote and teach children and their families about using the internet. The £1,200 winnings from the competition will be used to benefit the school’s future use of technology.

Last autumn pupils from High Hesket school started a new club in their school called Radio Waves in which the pupils make video reports, broadcasts and interviews on subjects of interest in school and put them on the internet for all to watch. The budding reporters have access to a flip camera and so are able to film their reports. One young student, Jasper, tried his hand at filming Rory whilst they were standing in the Victoria Tower Garden yesterday for a picnic as part of their day in Parliament. Rory also introduced the children to a Rodin statue (of the Burghers of Calais) that was in the garden and explained that there had once been 2 MPs from Calais in the Houses of Parliament. The children promptly lived up to their prize winning nature by videoing the statue and the MP for a new report for Radio Waves.

High Hesket Head Teacher, Margaret Taylor, said: “It was such a fun packed experience that the children might not otherwise have had. It was wonderful to be in the Members dining room for the awards ceremony and the children were very excited to see Lord Sugar! We are so pleased to have won the Regional award and will spend the money on IT equipment for the children. The support Rory Stewart has given us has been phenomenal and is so much appreciated. We will certainly be entering again next year!”

Rory said: “The pupils of High Hesket are an inspiration to others in the constituency. They are full of ideas and enthusiasm for the better use of technology. They told me that in addition to Radio Waves they are also currently having weekly online discussions about the lives of Native Indians with pupils from schools in Texas, including dressing up in Native Indian clothes. This innovative use of technology is an incredible opportunity to broaden the minds of young people and their work re-emphasises the importance that broadband has in our constituency and for education in our schools. I very much hope to see even more primary schools from Penrith and the Border entering this competition next year.”

Photo: Rory with the High Hesket CE Pupils in the Victoria Tower Gardens outside Parliament