European Parliament in Strasbourg

As a European Parliament Ambassador School, 23 students from Years 10 and 12 were lucky enough to have the opportunity to participate in the Euroscola event in the European Parliament Headquarters in Strasbourg on 2nd December. Once in Strasbourg, we were mesmerised by the traditional architecture of the buildings, pointing out the uniqueness of each house. Upon arriving at the European Parliament, we were taken aback by the grandeur of the building and by the hundreds of students who were also arriving from all over Europe. During breakfast, we were entertained whilst spotting the flags of different countries which the students carried around with them and were able to see the extent of the number of different countries who had attended.

After breakfast, we went to the spectacular hemicycle and sat down in our rows and seats as the MEPs would do.The main focus of the event was human rights which encompassed a huge range of topics from the war in Ukraine to abortion rights to the environment and LGBTQ+ rights, even venturing to the topic of the World Cup. We heard from several different professionals, such as Delara Burkhardt, the youngest MEP from Germany, who spoke to us about their different roles.We were delighted when they opened the floor to us to ask them questions and with the special welcome to the UK as a former EU Member State. In the second half of the day, we were shown how the voting system worked in the hemicycle and took part in a quiz on the history of the EU. After a jam-packed day, we headed to Strasbourg’s world-renowned and picturesque Christmas market which contained an array of stalls displaying baubles, jewellery, snacks and many other festive items.The trip ended with a spectacular group dinner in a Moroccan restaurant before we piled back onto the coach and travelled back home.

Leili A, Maja C, Alice E, Sophie K, Rosie P, Amelie R,Eliza W -Year 12