The children were cheered on by passersby Picture: Glastonbury Town Council/St John's

Glastonbury pupils enjoy lesson in democracy with fictitious protest

Tait ap EllisMarch 10, 20250 Comment0

PUPILS at a Glastonbury school took to the streets last week for a cause close to their hearts – keeping the weekends free from school.

Year 2 pupils at St John’s Infant School have been learning all about the right to peacefully protest and standing up for what they believe in.

As part of their learning, the school wrote a fake letter to pupils listing the benefits of going to school on the weekends and suggested this should be a new school policy.

The pupils were passionately against the “plans” and quickly got to work as they were encouraged to create placards protesting the idea.

Headteacher Kerry Devane said that while they would usually do this kind of exercise on the playground, she wanted to do something more authentic, and so the children marched up and down the Market Place to make their voices heard.

Explaining how this came about, Mrs Devine said: “We teach children about the basics of democracy and this includes the right to protest.

“The children had just read The Pink Hat by Andrew Joyner -which celebrates the 2017 Women’s March- as part of World Book Day, so we thought it would be good to have a practical exercise so they could engage their own right to protest.

“School on weekends was the decided cause for the exercise, and all of the children – bar one little girl – were passionately against the idea!

“We would usually do this kind of thing on the playground, but as it was such a sunny day, we decided to venture out into the High Street where others have protested before.

Mrs Devine with the pupils The children were cheered on by passersby Picture: Glastonbury Town Council/St John’s

“It was 15 minutes of pure joy for the children who loved the opportunity to have their voices heard and they made it clear that school should NOT take place on the weekends.”

The protestors were cheered on by passersby as they made their way up and down the street waving their placards.

Following the protest, the pupils were then taught about the difference between peaceful and violent protest and how important it is to express views in a proper manner.