As you can see yesterday I received an enthusiastic welcome from Lammas School and Sports College pupils in Waltham Forest. I was due to be debating climate change with my fellow London MEP Conservative Marina Yannak
oudakis. Marina unfortunately had to pull out at late notice. She missed a lively and interesting cross examination by the students.
The event had been put together by Ruxandra Ratiu, International Project Officer of the Citizenship Foundation; and I want to thank her for all her work. Thanks too, to class teacher Mr. Daintry for facilitating everything at school. He arranged for the meeting to be in this brilliant new library.
We were joined by Vice-Chair of governors Ted Cooke who told me the history of how the former South Leyton School had been transformed over the last decade. Ted has been involved from the start and I enjoyed his candid history of the school’s transformation. As a former school governor myself I pay tribute to Ted and his fellow school governors, community champions who selflessly serve society.
I wish good news stories such as building Lammas School on the site of two former factories and its progression into a modern thriving centre of 800 pupils received more publicity. The school’s successes strike you as soon as you enter reception with a heavily laden trophy cabinet.
I am proud to be a Labour representative when I see the changes a dozen years of Labour government has made with new buildings and investment like this.
This is not just the right thing to do; it is an investment in our future for these students are the wealth creators and taxpayers of tomorrow. The more we invest in our children the more successful Britain will be.
My talk to the students was mainly about the environment, but they also wanted to know about my job and how I got into politics. I hope that some of these pupils may go on to have a role in public life.
We then went into a detailed examination of Copenhagen and how it had not been as successful as it could have been. The students were particularly concerned about the rain forest and other citizens of the world. We then looked at car emissions and how regulation can provide information on how green a vehicle is before purchasing it. The pupils were keen on electric cars such as the Toyota Prius, but perhaps a little less so after the news on their accelerators.
We moved on to discuss a priority of the European Union – the promotion of renewable and alternative sources of energy. The students were pleased to hear I regularly use Eurostar rather than flying.
A lot of thought and research had gone into the questions, and the students broke into two groups to work up some further discussion points before quizzing me again.
I left refreshed and energised by the enthusiasm of these Lammas school pupils. Many thanks to
Meena Hadiy
Farheen Ramjan
Maria Andrews
Mohammed Ahad
Sophia Essiet
Victor Alli
Reanah Noel-James
Claire Ayres
