Newcastle North MP, Catherine McKinnell, is urging school councils in her constituency to enter the Speaker’s School Council Awards 2011.

The awards were first launched in 2009 to recognise the most innovative student-led school council projects in four age groups: 4-7, 7-11, 11-16, and 16-19. They are run by Parliament’s Education Service and supported by the Rt Hon John Bercow MP, Speaker of the House of Commons, who presented last year’s awards at the Houses of Parliament to the 20 finalists.

Catherine said:

“School councils are a really excellent way for young people to get involved in democracy and decision-making at an early stage – providing an important voice for pupils.

“I know that schools and colleges across my constituency – from St Oswald’s Primary in Gosforth to Walbottle Campus – have excellent school councils which should be rightly recognised by these awards. I would strongly urge them to enter, as almost 650 schools across the country have already registered for this year’s awards. I want to ensure that Newcastle schools are amongst the winners!

“The full application process opens on 10th January 2011, and school councils can find out more from http://speakersschoolcouncil.org “