MR STEPHEN DAUGHTON, ASSISTANT HEAD: DATA, TEACHING AND LEARNING

On Monday the Upper Sixth visited the new US Embassy in Nine Elms, London as part of a programme aimed at preparing students for A level. As well as a series of lectures from University Professors on the theory of the workings of Congress, there were two former Members of Congress who had flown in to make themselves available. Elizabeth Etsy, former Representative for Connecticut and Robert Woodall, a former Republican Member of the House for Georgia, took all questions from students and offered their experiences of how the reality of US politics worked in relation to the intention of the framework designed by the Founding Fathers.

Arriving to a spread of Coca-Cola and coffee, the students got to step inside the new embassy and spend the day there. The Conference took place the day before the US Mid-Term elections, which proved to be a hot topic and they proved to be in agreement on much more than they differed. To the accompaniment of pastrami or southern fried chicken sandwiches, both expressed hope for the future working of Congress and wider society in political terms but only if people respected the right of others to disagree and only if people got involved in Politics in an active and constructive way and the two guest embodied these desires in their discussion and disagreement all day.

In all it was a highly instructive day examining the workings of Congress, the Supreme court and their interrelations.