St John’s Pupils from the Lord Mayor’s Positively Portsmouth Passport to Success scheme were invited to attend the Annual Meeting of the Portsmouth City Council today, where the new Mayor was elected.

Pupils taking part in the Positively Portsmouth Passport to Success scheme visited the University of Portsmouth’s Mock Court room on Monday 12 December to take part in their third challenge. This time the pressure was on as they competed against The Charter Academy School to go through to the next round.

On Monday 10 October our Passport to Success pupils took part in their second challenge. The task was to prepare arguments on four topics selected by the Lord Mayor, which they later debated in the Council Chamber. Before they set to work the Lord Mayor stressed the importance of democracy, and told pupils how in the past her own Grandmother didn’t have the right to vote as she was a woman.

Pupils from Year 8 who were selected last year to take part in the Passport to Success scheme, run by Portsmouth’s Lord Mayor Cheryl Buggy, stepped up to a creative challenge on Tuesday 20 September at HMS Nelson’s gym.