CHILDRENS’ rights will be the topic of a discussion in Parliament thanks to the efforts of primary school children from Swindon.

Youngsters from Westlea Primary School have won the chance to travel to London to discuss the issue with South Swindon MP Robert Buckland after they won the Global Spotlight Competition.

The Wiltshire Global Education Centre (WGEC), the educational arm of the Marlborough Brandt Group, held the final of their Global Spotlight Competition for primary schools in Swindon recently.

The competition saw youngsters give performances based around the themes of climate change, fairtrade, children’s rights, industry and animal extinction.

Funded by the Co-operative Society and Comic Relief, the event saw teams from Brook Field Primary, Liden Primary, Peatmoor Community School, Oaktree and Westlea Primary Schools battle it out at The Platform, in Faringdon Road.

And manager of WGEC, Caroline Harmer, said the teams taking part gave inspirational performances.

“This competition is a sure and tested way of engaging children, both with the democratic process and the role they can play as active global citizens,” she said.

A winning group of 11 students and their teacher will now visit South Swindon MP Mr Buckland in order to discuss their global issue further.

“They identify the issue that they would like to find out more about and we provide the school workshop so that they have a firm basis of knowledge on which to build their oral presentation,” Mrs Harmer added.

“We are also keen to know what work they have done to spread the word in their own schools via assemblies and other means, and out into the wider community.”

She said the standard was incredibly high and the judges felt that the maturity that all teams displayed in response to some rigorous questioning was impressive.

“Well done to all of the teams and their teachers who helped them prepare,” she added.

WGEC hopes to run the competition elsewhere in Wiltshire, in 2016.