The grade 5 and 6 pupils at Melton South Primary School are setting off this week for Canberra as part of civics and citizenship studies.
The program teaches them about being citizens and how federal and state parliaments work.
On their week-long trip, the 58 pupils will visit Parliament House, the Australian Institute of Sport, Questacon, the National Museum, CSIRO, and for the first time the school’s children will take a tour of Government House.
Grade 5 teacher Ben Bykersma said there was always a big hype around the grade 5/6 camp and all the pupils were excited ahead of their bus trip. “Canberra is the ultimate civics and citizenship camp,” Mr Bykersma said. “This is the big camp the students aim towards at the end of their primary school.”
He said the students enjoyed the topics covered, especially
role playing. “They get to debate a bill, talk about issues and vote on issues in our class parliament and now they will see the real thing happening in Canberra. [In our classes] we have a seating in the house of representatives and they work in their electorates and have party meetings,” Mr Bykersma said.
Last week, the pupils also met Gorton MP Brendan O’Connor.
