The History of Parliament’s schools competition enters its eleventh year in 2015. The winners will receive prizes of book tokens, and will be invited to Westminster with members of their family and teachers for the presentation of their prizes.

This year, our Key Stage Three (KS3) competition is based on our new ‘Political Reform’ teaching materials. Throughout 2015 there are many celebrations of democracy to mark the anniversaries of Magna Carta and the 1265 Parliament, and these resources look at a vitally important time in the history of British democracy.

The resources include specially-written articles that explore how Britain changed from a country where political power was held by a few privileged people to one much more democratic – at least if you were a man! They also include a full scheme of work to accompany the materials with six distinct lesson plans that can be adapted to children of different abilities, and supports the new curriculum for history which emphasises topics on British history.

This competition has two options, both taken from our lesson plans. Of course you do not need follow the full lesson plan to take part in the competition, but they are there to help you if you want to!

Option 1: Peterloo

This option is taken from Lesson 1: ‘the political system before 1832’, and our full resources for this lesson can be found here.

This focusses on the events at ‘Peterloo’ in 1819, when 11 people died in Manchester at a peaceful rally to call for reform of the political system. Using the information available on the political system before 1832, as well as other resources listed on our website:

Write a news story on the events at ‘Peterloo’

We would like students to consider:
- what happened at St Peter’s Fields to cause the ‘massacre’
- what were the wider causes of protest in the early nineteenth century
- what impact ‘Peterloo’ had on the debates on political reform.

For the full resources relating to the pre-1832 political system, see here.

For Peterloo in particular, see our articles on:

- Lancashire 

- Henry Hunt 

See also the following extra resources on ‘Peterloo’

Option 2: Chartism

This option is taken from Lesson 3: Chartism, and our full resources for this lesson can be found here

This focusses on Chartist movement of the 1830s and 1840s, which called for a more democratic system and votes for working men. Using the information available on the Chartists, as well as other resources listed on our website:

    Write a short article for a newspaper either in favour of Chartism and how the movement tried to achieve its aims, or against it and how it should be stopped

We would like students to consider:
- who were the Chartists and what were their goals
- how radical were their aims
- how did they try and achieve reform.

For the full resources relating to Chartism system, see here.

These include our articles on

- Thomas Attwood

- Feargus O'Connor

- Glasgow

- Monmouth

See also the following extra resources on Chartism.

The closing date for the competition is 30 July 2015. Good luck!

Competition Rules

1. For individual entries, the winner of the competition will receive a prize of a book token for £75.  The winner will be invited to visit the Palace of Westminster with up to two other members of their family, and a member of the school staff, for the presentation of the prizes (the History will pay reasonable travel/accommodation expenses for the student and accompanying members of his/her family: we regret that we cannot pay the travel or accommodation expenses of any accompanying school staff).

2. The competition is open to any student at a UK school or college who will not have passed his or her 15th birthday by 30th July 2015.

3. All entries must be accompanied by the following information, securely attached to or associated with the entry

a) The candidate’s name
b) The candidate’s school and its address, with a telephone or email contact for the school
c) The candidate’s age at 30 July 2015
d) A declaration, signed by the teacher, saying that the work, including any photographs submitted, is all the candidate’s own.

4. We regret that entries cannot be individually acknowledged, and will not be returned after the competition.

5. Some entries may be used on www.historyofparliamentonline.org: those whose entries are used in this way will be contacted.

6. Entries should be sent to:

History of Parliament competition
18 Bloomsbury Square
LONDON WC1A 2NS

Or to the competition email account:

Competitions@histparl.ac.uk
(If sending entries by email, please send one email per individual entry)

7. Entries must be received by 30 July 2015.

8. Judging will be by a panel appointed by the History of Parliament.  Their decision will be final, and no correspondence can be entered into.

9. For each competition there will be one winner, although the judges may make special commendations if they think fit.