School Council Visit New City Hall

As part of their work as Rights Respecting school councillors, 18 pupils from Year 2 -6 spent the day at New City Hall in the heart of  Docklands learning about how London's Mayor and the London Assembly go about their business helping to run the capital. Josh and Sam from Year 5 report:

As we arrived at New City Hall, we noticed it is a quite modern building and is built in a peculiar style. The Mayor moved into the building last year having previously been based on the South Bank near Tower Bridge.

The Mayor and the London Assembly moved to their new premises as the rent at the old City Hall sky-rocketed when new owners took over.

Our host, Elizabeth, spoke to us about the history of London supported by a very interesting and  entertaining video.

One of the things we learnt about London is that it has a history of experiencing terrible fires like the Great Fire of London, the Crystal Palace being burnt to ashes and being bombed during World War 2.

However, although London has had its fair share of tragedies it has much to be proud of e.g. holding 3 Olympic games, building the first modern main sewerage system, and having a two thousand year history dating back to Roman times.

We found out that the mayor, Sadiq Khan, is Labour. Boris Johnson, the previous mayor, is a Conservative. The Mayor makes big decisions about London's transport system, the environment and the Metropolitan Police.

We did a tour of the building including going into the conference room where the Mayor debates issues with the London Assembly.

The only disappointment of the day was the cancellation of our planned trip on the cable cars across the River Thames due to the inconvenience of high winds.

Overall, it was a really exciting day.