In early February, Laura Trott, MP for Sevenoaks and Swanley, welcomed the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rishi Sunak MP to St Pauls Primary School in Swanley, where he joined a virtual lesson with Year 6 pupils.
The Chancellor helped review a maths exercise and then took questions from pupils on a wide range of topics including what it’s like to be Chancellor, his favourite subjects at school and even his view on the latest football results.
Commenting after the visit, Laura Trott, said: “It was a delight to see the children so engaged with their lesson and I can report that, reassuringly, the Chancellor has excellent maths skills!
“Schools across Sevenoaks and Swanley are working so hard to provide high quality online education for our children. Switching from classroom only teaching to delivering online and physical lessons has been a huge undertaking and represents a phenomenal achievement for all school staff.
“Throughout the last year I have been in contact with head teachers across the constituency, listening to their concerns and feeding in questions and comments to the Department for Education. I know that schools have had a very tough year, and I’m immensely grateful for everything they continue to do to keep our children safe and most importantly learning.
“As I said in the House of Commons last week to the Prime Minister, we must now ensure our schools can safely reopen. Nothing can replace being in the classroom, and we must make sure pupils across Sevenoaks and Swanley are given the opportunity to thrive and fulfil their potential.”
Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rishi Sunak MP said: “It was a real pleasure to drop into Mr Ledger’s Year 6 Maths class last week and see how well the kids are doing at their fractions and decimal points.
“I know how hard home schooling has been, but it was heart-warming to see how enthusiastic and engaged the children were and hopefully it won’t be long before we can get children back in school. Keep it up St Pauls!”
Mr Ben Hulme, Headmaster of St Pauls added: “St. Paul’s were delighted to have the opportunity for a live lesson with the Chancellor. Our Year 6 were enthralled with his teaching methods and his honesty during the Q&A session afterwards. It was wonderful to listen to his experiences of home schooling, thoughts on the pandemic and his ideas on the future. We are hoping that once we are able to, that we can visit Downing Street and the Houses of Parliament, following the invitation from The Chancellor.”
