LOCHGELLY South Primary School pupils are very much up with political swings following a visit to the Scottish Parliament.

The children were pleaased to be given a chance to see the seat of power for themselves and then went back to the High Street school and held their own election!

This term, Primary 5 at Lochgelly South have been studying a topic on Scotland and how it is governed.

The children recently visited the Scottish Parliament and had a talk from the Education Department there about the role of the Parliament. Afterwards they had a tour and noticed the interesting architecture of the Parliament building. The children were especially excited to visit the Debating Chamber (below) and to see the Mace, commenting on how much better it was to see it in real life rather than on television. Finally the class had a meeting with Annabelle Ewing MSP, one of the contributors to the Times Politician's Opinion column, who enthusiastically answered the many questions which the children had prepared. Following on from this visit Primary 5 held their own mini election about ideas which could improve the school.

This took place on Friday 4th May, after the local council elections. There were four parties who campaigned for: a quiet area for P4-7; a shelter in the playground; no school uniform and a change in the type of school dinners available. The children presented their party manifestoes at an assembly and answered many tricky questions from the staff and pupils. Later in the day the school voted. The winning party was the Super Souths who wanted no school uniform. As this idea cannot be fully implemented, the party will discuss occasions where it could take place with Mrs Janice Davidson, the Headteacher.

Mrs Davidson commented on how exciting both the visit to Parliament and the mini- election had been for the children by using real life experiences to support their learning.