On Monday the 16th of January 2017, a large excited group of children were on the platform of Winchfield station. Our plan was to catch the 10:05 train to London Waterloo. On the train, we spent lots of time nattering about the week's news, and what we thought we might see. Stopping off at many different stations, letting people on and off, we waited... And waited... And waited... Until finally, we arrived at our destination. After a quick stop to the toilets,  we  set off towards the Houses of Parliament, our amazing journey had only just begun...

We had walked over the golden jubilee bridge, on the Thames River, when the gates were in sight! All so excited, we went into the Education Centre, where we were scanned through the security gates. It was like at an airport! Our bags were all scanned too, and luckily, we all got through! When we were met by our guide, Dianne Green, we set off towards the main buildings. We learnt that the three main parts of parliament were 1) The House of Commons, 2) The House of Lords and 3) The Monarch (Queen). The first area we visited was the dressing room for the Queen, when she came once a year to open Parliament. Then, we walked on to the 'Great Gallery', or 'Great Hall' where the Queen would be greeted by her loyal subjects. Next, we walked into the amazing House of Lords, a beautiful room decorated with gold leaf paint. This is where all of the decisions were made for one part of Parliament. It had a golden throne at the front, which the Queen would have sat on.

Walking on, we then entered the famous room of green, The House of Commons, where all of the government made their decisions. In order to make a new law, you would have to create a 'Bill', and send it through all of the members in that House, then to the other House, and then back if they don't agree, and make some changes. This process is called 'ping-pong', but it can only go back and forth twice... After they have agreed on making this new law, it is sent to the Monarch, or Queen, and after she agrees, the law is now officially a law! Sadly, our tour was now over, but we had great fun whilst on it! The fun wasn't over just yet though!

Our Education Centre part of the visit was about to begin! Coming back from the main buildings, Mr May was on lamp-post duty, so that we wouldn't walk into them, whilst looking at the guard's massive weapons! In the Education Centre, we entered the 'Making Laws' room. A woman called Ruth took our session. To start with, we took a quiz about what we had learnt that day. Afterwards, we made some laws, with John as the speaker - the person who chose people to speak in the House of Commons. Our law was to prevent homeless people from living on the streets.

Sadly, now our time at the houses of Parliament was over. On the bright side though, we were still having a tour around London! To start with, we set off towards Downing street, where we sadly couldn't go down, but got a cheeky snap with the policemen! Check out the gallery for more photos like that. Also, we visited Buckingham Palace, and also Horse Guards Parade! To top this all off, we visited Pizza Express afterwards! We had Pasta's, Pizzas, Sundae's and more. Finally, we went to the station, to catch our train back home. Arriving at Winchfield Station, it was our final step towards the end of the trip.

It was the most amazing day out that school council has ever had! Also, a MASSIVE   thank you to all of the teachers that went, and made it so great!