Howlawsare made

Use the SEND accessible resources that accompany this lesson plan

Starter

Check that your pupils understand the word ‘law’. Start by brainstorming ideas to share and ensure understanding.

Ask pupils to work in pairs to discuss and list as many UK laws as they can think of, e.g. it is against the law to drink and drive, the law states that you must not smoke in public places, you must be 18 to vote, etc. Each pair should feedback one law.

Use the sorting resource to highlight the difference between a law and a school rule. This will support exploration of the idea that a law is made by Parliament and applies at a national level, while a school rule applies at that school or institution only. For example, many schools have rules about uniform, they vary from school to school. If needed, this can be supported by pictures of different school uniforms.

Establish that laws are made in Parliament and that creating and amending legislation is a key function of both the House of Commons and the House of Lords.

Explain that a draft law has to go through many stages before it becomes a law, that draft laws are called ‘Bills’ and that some Bills may not get to become a law, as they may be voted out. It may support pupils’ understanding to compare the process of writing a law to writing an essay or a story, where ideas are discussed and edited and some are abandoned.

Structuredtaskinpairs-Stages ofaBill

Referto‘Howlaws aremade’ presentation.Explainthattherearedifferent types ofBills and thatthemajoritywillbegovernment Bills.

The film ‘Making laws’ might be useful

Explainthatthe sequencingtask theyaregoing todoinpairsis based ona government Billstarting intheHouseofCommons.Makesure they understand, however,thatBillscanstart offineitherHouse.

Pupils should use the colour coded ‘stages of a Bill’ worksheet to put the stages in the correct order. You can copy the statements on to card for stability, or do the activity on a computer so that pupils can move/click and drag the stages into place.

Useslides5-13 ofthe‘Howlaws aremade’ presentation tocheck their answers. Slide14providesan overviewofthewholeprocess.

Role play activity for pupils with SEN: A law about school uniform

Pupils with SEN may find it easier to work with ideas closer to their direct experience. This role play focuses on the process of passing a Bill through Parliament using an example that is closer to their experience: school uniform.

Explain that we are going to imagine that the government wanted to introduce a law, so all schools had the same school uniform. Ask thepupilstoinitiallybrainstormany thoughts,ideasandopinions they haveaboutthisinpairs orsmallgroups.

Use the‘One School Uniform’ worksheettodrawoutfurtherideas and ask the pupilswhichofthese opinionsthey agreeordisagreewith.

Torun therole-play:

  • Divide theclassintotwo groups withhalf oftheclassforming thegovernment side to argue for the idea and halftheoppositionside to argue against.
  • Insmallgroups withinthese twolargergroups,thepupilsshouldlist atleast two
  • Whenthey have discussed atleasttwo arguments from the ideasin theirsmall groups,set up theroomtorepresenttheHouseofCommonsChamberwith the government on oneside and theoppositionon the other.
  • Take ontherole ofSpeaker and ask someone on the governmentside topretend tobe theSecretary ofState forSchools andstart off thedebateby presentingtheirkeyargument. It will help the pupils to rehearse or read their arguments before they present them.
  • Dothesame thingforthe othersidewithonepupil presenting anargument against one school uniform for all childrenin the role oftheShadowSchools Secretary.
  • It is not normal Parliamentary practice, but they might want to use IT to present their arguments or as a support to do so.
  • Allowthepupilsto thenrequesttoputforward their arguments by ‘catching the
  • Speaker’s eye’.They could dothis eitherby putting their handupor, as they do

intheHouseofCommons, by standing up. Consider if, the pupils may find it easier to know in advance what order they will share their ideas.

  • Aftereachside has hadachance toputforward theirarguments,conducta secondreadingstagevote.

Plenary

Individually,theyshouldwrite down frommemory thenextstages thattheBillwould gothroughifitpassedthesecondreadingstage.Theyshouldthen use theirlesson notes tocheck theiranswers.

Revisit the Power Point and go through the stages.

Pose the question:what arethemain advantages anddisadvantages ofaBillpassing throughthesestages beforebecomingalaw? Ifthey arestrugglingwiththis, ask themto think aboutwhatwouldhappenifthePrimeMinisterwantedtocreatea newlawtoincrease thevotingage to21 andthislegislative process didnot exist. Explain thatthis process allows all Members ofParliamenttocontributeto and shapelegislation andpreventsthemajority partysimply pushing throughlaws which meettheirown agendawithoutacheckingand balancingprocess.

Suggested homework or development work

  • Find out how their MP voted on a particular Bill.
  • Find out what is meant by the term ‘free vote’ and which sorts of Bills tend to have free votes (i.e. Bills relating to matter of conscience).
  • Watch a debate on a Bill either in the House of Commons or the House of Lords (