The purpose of the Torbay Children's Parliament is to:

• Provide an exciting opportunity for children to present their views to adults of influence and to see that they really can make a difference in a political way;
• Engage young people in the democratic process;
• Gain insight into the views of young people on key issues for the Council;
• Encourage intra-school and inter-school debate;
• Develop young people’s communication skills.

How it works

• A relevant topic is agreed that young people’s input is relevant to and sought, led by the Council.
• The topic is shared with all schools, along with an overview of the format; 
• Schools invite their Year 5 pupils to enter an in-school competition in teams of 4 where they present their views on the chosen topic, including highlighting any research that they have done on the issue raised;
• Presentations are 5 minutes long and must be spoken presentations. Visual aids may be used, but PowerPoint and other presentation software / equipment is not allowed. This is to focus young people on the use of persuasive language and oral presentation skills;
• Presentations take place in front of the school community and an official school election is held to identify the best presentation. Schools may wish to invite their ward councillors to the presentations and engage school council members as ‘ballot officials’;
• The in-school ‘winners’ become the school’s elected representatives at the Children’s Parliament event.

The next competition will be held on

Friday 18th June 2027

in the Banking Hall at Torquay Town Hall.

The event

• All schools are invited to send their elected representatives to present to the Children’s Parliament, in The Banking Hall at the Town Hall;
• Each primary school has five minutes to present to the panel of judges, which includes council leaders, LA Education leaders and (hopefully) our local MP Steve Darling;
• All schools are given voting slips which are collated and form a single ‘schools’ vote’;
• Judges meet to decide on the most effective presentation;
• The winning team is awarded a prize of a visit to the Houses of Parliament, and a trophy for their school, as well as individual medals. 

above: Children's Parliament 2026

See below for details of the most recent competition and click on the tiles for competitions in previous years.

coming soon!