A local primary school is flying the flag for Monmouthshire as part of a unique parliamentary project to connect young people with the democratic process and heritage.
Llanfoist Fawr Primary School has been chosen by Monmouth MP David Davies to represent the constituency in the 2015 Flag Project.
The school was one of 650 in the UK selected to take part in Parliament’s 2015 ‘Parliament in the Making’ programme to celebrate two historic anniversaries this year – the 800th anniversary of the sealing of Magna Carta (1215) and the 750th anniversary of the Simon de Monfort Parliament.
To mark the Montfort parliament anniversary, where elected representatives of the shires and boroughs came together for the first time, Parliament invited a primary school in every constituency to create a flag that represents their area or community.
Year 6 pupils at Llanfoist Fawr Primary School who formed the design team and helped to lead the class through the project were Tommy-Lee Watkins, Jessica Dickinson, Megan Holton and Ben Morris.
The inspiration for the design came from an original idea of using old and new bridges linking with Monmouthshire.
Ben, aged 11, said: “Our initial design focused on the gateway to Monmouthshire, the Severn Bridge, linked with the historic Monnow Bridge in Monmouth.
“This design was too difficult to make so we decided on the Monnow Bridge. It is the only remaining fortified river bridge in Britain where the gate tower actually stands on the bridge and it dates back to the 13th Century.”
Tommy-Lee, aged 10, added: “We chose red for the bridge because it is made of old red sandstone and red is also the colour of the dragon on the Welsh national flag.”
The flag features in an online digital exhibition and will be stitched into large flags to fly in Parliament Square this spring and again at Runnymede on June 15.
As part of the project, pupils from Year 5 and Year 6 visited Parliament last week for a guided tour of the Palace of Westminster.
They also met with David Davies MP, who gave his popular ‘A Day in the Life’ talk.
Class teacher Matt Davies said: “It was an honour to be selected as the school to represent Monmouthshire in this exciting initiative.
“Through their research, the children have learnt a great deal about the democratic foundations of our country.
“We all enjoyed our visit to Parliament and are very excited about the prospect of seeing our flag fly.”
The online exhibition can be viewed at www.parliament.uk/2015flaghub