On Thursday 17 September, XP School welcomed Sally Jameson MP for a visit focused on student leadership, beautiful work, character growth and the role of politics in shaping our local area and wider country.

Sally Jameson is the MP for Doncaster Central, a position she has held since July 2024. Her visit gave students the opportunity to find out more about her work in Parliament, her responsibilities in Doncaster and the decisions politicians are involved in making.

The morning began with an ambassador tour led by Saanvi and Veya. They not only showed Sally around XP School but also confidently narrated some of the beautiful work displayed throughout the building, explaining the learning and purpose behind it.

This was followed by a smaller session led by Dexter and Pixie, who spoke to Sally about their own beautiful work and the purpose of student portfolios at XP. Both students articulated how they have grown since Year 7, not only academically, but through their Habits of Work and Learning (HoWLs) and character traits. They reflected on how their work demonstrates progress over time and how their portfolios allow them to tell the story of their own learning and character development.

The visit culminated in an expert talk and Q&A session with both Year 9 groups.

Students were keen to make the most of having an MP in the room and asked Sally a wide range of challenging questions. Topics included social housing, HS2, the Assisted Dying Bill, immigration, proposals around restricting social media use for under-16s, illegal electric bikes, differences between areas of England, building homes on floodplains, taxation and public spending, bus fares, the NHS budget and Sally’s own career and experiences.

Students were also interested in how politicians deal with disagreement and pressure. One thing that particularly stood out to us was how carefully politicians have to consider what they say and do, particularly when comments can quickly be shared through the media and online.

One student reflection:

“Something that made me think differently was that politicians have a lot of pressure and weight on their decisions. When people comment on those decisions, they don’t always see how much work goes on behind the scenes.”

Another important message from the session was that careers do not always follow the path we expect. We learned that Sally had not always imagined herself holding the position she has today, which reminded us of the importance of continuing to work hard and taking opportunities when they arise.

A particularly memorable part of the session was being able to ask questions about issues that affect young people directly. The discussion helped us think more carefully about how national and local decisions are made and encouraged us to develop a greater understanding of viewpoints that may be different from our own.

Sally’s visit also connected strongly with our XP character traits. Throughout the session, students demonstrated courage by asking challenging questions, integrity by listening respectfully to the responses and respect by allowing different perspectives to be heard.

It also demonstrated the importance of Crew. As a year group, we listened, questioned, discussed and learned together.

Overall, Sally Jameson’s visit gave us a valuable opportunity to speak directly with someone involved in making decisions at both a local and national level. It encouraged us to think more deeply about politics, public services and the issues affecting our community.

We would like to thank Sally Jameson for taking time from her schedule to visit XP School, speak with our students and answer our questions.

Written by Max Goodall and Kai Palmer E31