Tuesday 6th February 2018 marked 100 years since women over 30 were given the vote in Britain. To celebrate this historic anniversary some of our KS3 children worked with Penni Blythe on Friday and we were lucky enough to also welcome Tyne Tees Television into school to record this too.

 They talked about the Bill in Parliament that allowed women over 30 to vote as a result of centuries of campaigning, militant action and imprisonment by suffragettes and suffragists. Emily Davison, who lived in Longhorsley, was topic of conversation due to her work as a suffragette. As part of their work in Citizenship, the children already knew that she is buried in the churchyard of St Mary’s in Morpeth but found out from Penni that there is going to be a memorial statue built in Carlisle Park, Morpeth.

 

As part of their discussions, the children also talked about a range of women that they find inspirational. Some women were from their own families, some more famous and some other ladies were from the North East. Georgia H said “Grace Darling

 inspire me, and she was from the North East like Emily Davison”.

 

A huge thank you to Penni for her work with the KS3 children and to Julia, from ITV Tyne Tees, who allowed Chantry Middle School to be part of their celebrations to mark 100 years since women got the vote.

 

Below are what some of the children had to say about their experiences.

 

Kitty said “When Penni came in to work with us she told us about the jewellery and rosettes the suffragettes used to make. We wore purple ribbon to represent the things that they made.”

 

Aaron said “When women got the vote 100 years ago they had to be 30 and own a house to be able to vote. The suffragettes took huge sacrifices but were so determined to stand for what they believed”

 

Naomi said “I enjoyed the part where we separated and anyone under a five foot couldn’t vote. It got us thinking about how this might have felt for women over 100 years ago when they were not allowed to vote because of their gender.”

 

Jake said “I really enjoyed the experience and finding out that Emily lived in Longhorsley!”

 

Georgia said “I enjoyed meeting Penni, she was really interesting to talk to. I thoroughly enjoyed the whole morning and I am excited to see us on ITV News”

 

Alice Hepton said “I enjoyed working with Penni and finding out about what she does and how she travels the world finding out about how getting the vote has changed womens’ lives. If it wasn’t for this experience, I wouldn’t know all about Emily Davison being buried in Morpeth and that Tuesday 6th February is the 100 year anniversary since some women, who were 30 and owned a property, were able to vote. I was also very excited about bring on ITV news.”

 

Alice Hudson said “I really enjoyed the experience of working with Penni and Tyne Tees Television. Penni came dressed as a suffragette knowing many facts about them that I had never heard before. We set up a display which included a banner that said “Deeds not words”. Once Julia from Tyne Tees had filmed her footage she let us have a look more closely at her awesome camera and she explained how the videos she had taken would then become a 3 minute feature on ITV news on Tuesday 6th February (100th anniversary of women voting)!”