Bella May – Uckfield Community Technology College
I am truly grateful for the experience that Nus has given throughout an amazing week in parliament. Every aspect of the week has been engaging and educational. We have been to select committees, watched debates in the chamber, went on a tour of parliament as well as worked in the office. My favourite part of the week was visiting Nus in her ministerial office where we sat in on meetings as well as being able to ask her questions. We had a long chat with Nus about her job in government and what brought her into politics.
Thank you to Nus and the team for being so kind and enabling this week to happen. It’s an experience that I won’t forget.
Kinsey Read - Uplands
When I first heard about this amazing opportunity to shadow Nus Ghani and to see first hand what it is like to be part of Parliament, I instantly took it. The experience has made me gain skills such as adaptive teamwork ability and has given me a real sense of what the life of someone in Parliament has to deal with on a day-to-day basis. Throughout the whole work experience, I felt like I was getting the most out of my time in Parliament. One of my favourite parts was when we all got to watch debates in The House of Common and to experience the atmosphere. I also really enjoyed getting to know Nus herself and how she came about her roles in Parliament. Nus is a very inspirational woman and I am honoured to have been part of Nus Ghani Work Experience 2018. Thank you again for the opportunity.
Rhiannon Vesey Holt - Mayfield
Tuesday 16th October:
We went to a debate which focused on ‘ Accessibility onto Batersea train station for disabled people’ in which unseat as a minister of transport took part. When we returned Nusrat’s MP office after a lunch on parliament’s terraced roof, we made press releases, based on our research into Nusrat congratulating the villages; Mayfield and Fives Asheson winning the Bloom competition. In the final part of the afternoon we sat in on a Select Committee on foreign Territories.
Wednesday 17th October:
Went on a guided tour around the houses of parliament (including House of Lords). After lunch we watched a debate on Universal benefits in the House of Commons. Where we saw Tim Farron and the speaker John Burcow
Thursday 18th October:
Went to the Department of Transport where we met Nusrat Ghani and her team in her office. We sat in on two meetings, one being on ‘The year of engineering project’ where two civil servants met with Nusrat. We then had cake with Nusat where we were able to ask any questions
Friday 19th October:
We met Nusrat and her team at the Crowborough constituency and there we went round the village handing out leaflets. After this we met Nusrat for lunch at the local pub.
Anna Broad – Mayfield
We all had such an exciting week of work experience in Westminster and one day in the constituency. I thoroughly enjoyed all of it, it gave me even more ambition to study politics at university or and pursue a career in politics later in life. The week gave us a much deeper understanding of Westminster and what goes on within, we were lucky enough to sit in meetings, select committees and debates. I found it so exhilarating and interesting being able to apply some of the knowledge from my politics lessons at school to what went on within Parliament whilst we were there. I would like to thank Nus again for giving us all this wonderful opportunity and all who made it happen.
Katie O’Neill – Uplands
Since hearing of the opportunity to participate in the work experience opportunity offered to us, I knew it was something I would apply to be part of. Our first day included watching a debate between Nus Ghani and an opposition MP about the topic of accessibility for disabled members of the public, significantly discussing Battersea and highlighting this station as one that was still not providing step-free access. We did some work in the office producing press releases and watched a select committee on foreign affairs and overseas territories.
On Wednesday we had a full tour of parliament and watched a debate in the chamber about Universal Credit. We saw people talking including Tim Farron and the Speaker John Bercow. In the afternoon we watched a Select Committee on Defence where we saw the Secretary of State, Gavin Williamson.
For our last day in Parliament, we visited the Department for Transport, seeing other departments on the way including the Home Office and Education. We witnessed two meetings Nus was involved in and spent some time with her asking questions and finding out about her role. This was followed with writing a briefing about the Select Committee and some work in the office. On the final day, we were in the constituency with Nus, both in the surgery seeing how it works and campaigning in Wealden. It has been a great, eye opening experience and would recommend it to anyone interested in or considering work experience.