Visitor lords it up at St Ambrose High

Special guest’s talk

St Ambrose High was called to order as the Coatbridge school hosted a talk by a member of the House of Lords.

Jeremy Purvis of the Scottish Liberal Democrats used his speech to senior modern studies pupils to encourage them to become more engaged with the political and parliamentary process.

The Lord Purvis of Tweed also spoke about his work and the role of the House of Lords.

Pupils then had the chance to grill the Berwick-upon-Tweedborn politician during an informative question and answer session that covered various aspects of the parliamentary process and life in the Houses of Parliament.

Lord Purvis’ visit was arranged through the Lord Speaker’s “Peers in Schools” outreach programme, which was established across the UK in 2007 and has so far involved around 90,000 young people.

St Ambrose High head teacher Ellen Douglas told the Advertiser: “This was a fantastic opportunity for our students to interact with someone who knows the parliamentary system inside out.

“This is an aspect of the world of politics that can sometimes seem far removed from their daily lives, but Lord Purvis’ visit gave a thorough insight into the workings of Westminster.

“We would like to thank Lord Purvis for taking the time to come to the school and meet with our youngsters.

“They found his visit very informative and were delighted to be given the chance to ask him some questions; he was extremely engaging and spoke very highly of our pupils afterwards.”

The Lord Speaker’s “Peers in Schools” programme sees members of the House of Lords visit “schools, academies and colleges to give talks in support of the citizenship curriculum” being run in education.

Informative Lord Purvis (front) gave a talk to modern studies pupils before answering their questions