18th August- Jack Abbott Writes About the Purpose of His Summer School

A summer school was my route into politics, so I am giving the same chance to young people from Ipswich and Suffolk.

This is not about 'how to become an MP' - it is about values, opportunity and public service.

When I was elected as the Member of Parliament for Ipswich, I already knew I wanted to host a summer school for young people, and I was delighted to launch it this week.

A summer school was my route into politics, so I am giving the same opportunity to 18 young people from Ipswich and Suffolk.

15 years ago, aged 20 and knowing little about politics, I spent six weeks in Luton with the then-MP, Gavin Shuker. It was the start of my political journey, so this week has felt like a real full circle moment.

The group is incredibly talented and dedicated, reflecting the diversity of life backgrounds, experiences, and interests of young people in our town and county. I am so pleased to be working with them over the next fortnight.

One particular highlight this week was being able to take our young people down to Westminster to see the place they might want to work in future. We started the day with a tour of Parliament, with my team getting very competitive over the quality of their tour guiding skills!

I was especially delighted to surprise them with a trip to Downing Street. We saw Larry the cat and took a photo in front of the most famous door in the country.

Next on the agenda was a debate, which saw the young people split into two groups to spar on the topic of votes at sixteen. Ironically, the group had been discussing the issue at lunch only an hour before!

I was incredibly impressed by the quality of the speeches, both sides demonstrating confident public speaking skills and a capacity for constructing coherent and persuasive arguments.

This week, my summer schoolers have also learnt about engaging with the media, campaigning, and what it is like to work for an MP. They also heard about trade unions and local government from representatives of GMB and the Local Government Association.

They also had a session on public speaking, after which they performed one-minute speeches on topics of their choosing. I was again hugely impressed by their speeches, which were at once moving, often very funny and incredibly compelling.

A huge thank you to DanceEast, the University of Suffolk, and BBC Suffolk for hosting us across the week, and to all the people who have spent time with our wonderful group this week. The excellent St Nicholas Sandwich Shop also kindly provided lunch!

I am so excited for the rest of the summer school. Next week, our group will be asked to run campaigns on some important local issues.

These will be led entirely by the summer schoolers, enabling them to take initiative, unleash their creativity and use the skills learnt in the first week to make the campaigns as effective and impactful as possible.

Alongside Volunteering Matters, the summer schoolers will also get the opportunity to help facilitate a ‘hackathon’ on youth safety, leading discussions on building inclusive, safe and thriving communities, both online and offline.

Both my team and I have been incredibly impressed by the thoughtful and insightful questions the young people have asked, and it is clear how much each member of the group has wanted to learn and make the most of the opportunity.

They are a really special and inspiring group of individuals, and have only reinforced exactly why I wanted to do this.

Attending a summer school was a transformative, life-changing experience for me, and I am so thrilled to give another generation of young people in Ipswich and Suffolk the same opportunity.

I am sure we will see big things from each of them and, who knows, maybe we have met the future MP for Ipswich!