The Outreach Team: MP Summer Schools 2025
Across the summer holidays, following requests from MPs, some members of the Outreach Team ran education sessions for MP summer schools. These programmes offer an extracurricular programme for young people to learn about politics in action.
The Outreach Team are impartial and run sessions all year round for schools and community groups about how Parliament works and how people can get involved.
South West
Tom, South West Outreach Officer
Tom, South West Outreach Officer
Plymouth Sutton and Devonport
In July, 20 young people spanning Years 10-13 attended the fourth annual Summer School held by Luke Pollard MP at the University of Plymouth.
Tom - the Outreach Officer for the South West - gave an introduction to Parliament at the start of the two-day programme, to support engagement with the rest of the Summer School.
Tom facilitated a range of activities about Parliament. The young people labelled up photographs of different parts of Parliament and held debates on different policy issues like healthcare, education and the economy.
"It gave me great insight into politics as well as how to run a successful campaign."
Hands-on Petitions
Tom ended his session with a new creative activity to celebrate the 10 year anniversary of e-petitions.
The group learnt about the UK Parliament petitions website and how to create an effective petition requesting Parliament or Government action.
The young people then got 'hands-on' with petitions by designing and decorating an idea for a petition, using their hands as a template.
"I particularly enjoyed hearing the young people's ideas for petitions and seeing their creativity in bringing these ideas to life."
Luke Pollard MP
Luke Pollard MP
What the MP said:
"I am really grateful to Tom for coming and taking part in my annual Summer School. His engaging and well thought out session provided a great understanding of how our democracy works for the young people of this city, and fed well into the established programme of the Summer School."
Luke Pollard MP also shared Tom's session across his social media:
Truro & Falmouth
At the end of the school summer holidays, Tom also supported the first MP Summer School held by Jayne Kirkham MP, hosted by Falmouth University.
As with the Plymouth Summer School, the goal of the session was to get young people from across the constituency involved.
A particular focus for the session was debating procedure in the House of Commons. The group studied some debates and votes in the Commons, and Tom guided them through the procedures Members follow, supported by Jayne sharing her experience of 'bobbing' in her first year as an MP!
"It was great to visit Falmouth to deliver a session for Jayne Kirkham's MP Summer School. I'm pleased to have helped engage the group in the ins and outs of a parliamentary debate. Having the first-hand experiences of a sitting MP to draw upon really added to the experience."
London
Damien, London Outreach Officer
Damien, London Outreach Officer
Erith and Thamesmead
As part of a three day Summer School for Abena Oppong-Asare MP, Damien - the Outreach Officer for London - introduced the workings of Parliament for the group of 16-18 year olds who took part.
Damien's session focused on getting the group to articulate their points of view.
"Each activity enabled them to express opinions and hear from each other, always bringing it back to Parliament, how our democracy is designed to centre their voices, and how participation in it can foster change."
Summer School Paritipants with Damien and Abena Oppong-Asare MP
Summer School Paritipants with Damien and Abena Oppong-Asare MP
Parliamentary Role Play
The young people also took on the roles of government and opposition.
Splitting them into groups, 'the Government' was tasked with coming up with ideas for policy areas such as transport and health. The opposition had to scrutinise their ideas through challenging questions.
The young people debated different topics such as building more houses, banning diesel cars and votes at 16.
This helped to create nuanced understanding of the challenges that both sides face during parliamentary debates.
"I'm glad they did the debating; it got them talking as they were really shy at the start of the summer school. It was great you debated votes at 16 as I got to hear their points of view and it's so relevant right now."
Abena Oppong-Asare MP
Abena Oppong-Asare MP
What the MP said:
Abena Oppong-Asare MP shared some lovely feedback for Damien's session on X (formerly known as Twitter):
East of England
Colchester
Over the summer Kelly - Outreach Officer for the East of England - was invited by Pam Cox MP to take part in a Q&A at Colchester Town Hall to give a flavour of how Parliament works for a group of students.
As many of the people were taking part were over 18 and some had studied politics, Kelly adapted the content to include more detailed ways they could get involved, such as engaging with select committees.
Pam also explained her role as an MP and shared her experiences of working in Parliament and the constituency.
"Pam was brilliant at doubling up on the answers to some of the questions with her own experiences as an MP."
Kelly, East of England Outreach Officer
Kelly, East of England Outreach Officer
Pam Cox MP
Pam Cox MP
What the MP said:
"I was really pleased to hold a session with young people to highlight how Parliament works and the role an MP.
"Kelly did a great job of explaining all the different ways they could get more involved in our democracy.
"We were delighted to be able to hold the event in our beautiful Town Hall which inspired discussions on how to get involved in local government too."
South East
Earley and Woodley
Kerrie - South East Outreach Officer - supported the MP Summer School of the newly created constituency of Earley and Woodley.
The young people were taking part in a work placement with Yuan Yang MP. Kerrie ran a digital workshop to help them to understand the competing demands upon an MP and their staff.
Kerrie and the staff of Yuan Yang's office then facilitated a discussion about the lived experience of constituency staff and how MPs can help improve the lives of their constituents.
"I thought the session was pacy, informative and well pitched. The efforts to quickly gauge knowledge levels in the room so that the session was well pitched were really useful, as it kept everyone engaged. The students really enjoyed it and found it to be a great introduction to their week of work experience!"
Kerrie. South East Outreach Officer
Kerrie. South East Outreach Officer
What we offer
Our Outreach team deliver sessions to schools and community groups all over the country, all year round. The sessions run during the MP summer schools are part of our current community programme.
If you're an educator or community leader, find out more about what we offer and request a session.
Community groups
- Free workshops, events and training to community, ESOL and youth groups, in person and online
- EMPOWER! workshops, for adults with learning disabilities, tailored to the needs of your group.
Schools and colleges
- Free assemblies in schools and colleges to teach young people about the UK Parliament and its work, tailored to primary and secondary level
- SEND workshops - sensory based sessions aimed at pre-curriculum age students between 7 - 19 years old.
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