PUPILS at Cleddau Reach School have been given an insight into the corridors of power after being named the first Your Assembly Ambassador school in Wales.

The project aims to involve school councils in the work of the Welsh Assembly, and give them a platform for their concerns.

As part of a day of workshops at Cleddau Reach last week, members of the school council learned about the work of Assembly Members and its similarity to their role as school councillors.

In order to achieve ambassador status, the school council submitted a blog to the Your Assembly website, which covered issues such as speeding cars and the downgrading of Withybush Hospital, and what they would do if they were put in charge of Wales for a day.

Tom David, the Chair of the school council, enjoyed discussing issues and writing down ideas.

“It was great that we were the first primary school in Wales to be an Assembly Ambassador,” he said.

“All the children who were involved in writing the blog felt really proud when we saw our pictures and ideas on the National Assembly’s website.”

Head teacher Nick Groves praised the children for their debating skills.

“Through writing the blog it provided an opportunity for their views to be shared with others through the National Assembly’s website,” he said.

“The children will look forward to writing further blogs and developing their role as a National Assembly Primary School Ambassador. They will also look forward to reading the opinions from other Primary Schools who will take part in the future.”

The certificate was presented by Paul Davies, Assembly Member for Preseli Pembrokeshire, who was given a tour of the school building and took part in a question and answer session with pupils from Years 5 and 6.

“It was fantastic to see the pupils’ enthusiasm in getting involved with politics,” said the Conservative AM. “I was very impressed with the school’s ethos and the excellent work being undertaken by the staff under the fantastic leadership of Nick Groves as head teacher.

“I was very grateful to be given a tour of the school and I enjoyed very much taking questions from pupils regarding my role as the Assembly Member for Preseli Pembrokeshire.”

The pupils’ blog can be found at here.

Anyone who runs a school council and is interested in taking part in the scheme should contact kate.gravell@assembly.wales