Primary Parliament's Vision for Nottingham

This Spring term, Primary Parliamentarians were asked to share their ideas for what a Child-Friendly Nottingham will look like in 2050. Children took part in a series of activities to help them along their journey, including:

• A visit down to the Green Heart to see and experience how this space has been transformed over the past six years to be greener, more biodiverse, walkable, playable and a more welcoming place to be.

• A workshop with PhD researcher Hannah Burrows to identify draw and write down places that are Child-Friendly for them, places like schools, parks, religious sites, friend's houses, sports clubs and more.

• A workshop thinking about how we can communicate our love for important places in our community and what steps we can take to intervene when they are under threat.

The children also received 'What We Play' books from Rick Hall, to stimulate conversation about the games children play in the playground.

At the end of the day children presented their visions for Nottingham in 2050, a world where they are in their mid-30s and in charge of decision-making! Their presentations included:

• A poem called 'How do we look after our world?'

• A drama about the future Prime Minister making good decisions for the people of Nottingham

• A news report about how Nottingham has changed for the better since 2026

• Posters and drawings showing how Nottingham becomes the most eco-friendly city

• A presentation about how children in 2025 are 'Growing up Green, Safe and Free'

• A model showing all the amenities and facilities in the community

• A drama about robots cleaning up our parks and green spaces

For our online SEND schools session, we invited the children to tell us all about a perfect place which would make them feel safe and happy, and they told us about:

• Quiet spaces, parks with animals, flowers and water, with places to sit like Lakeside Arts/Highfields Park

• Cafes and restaurants where they can go with their families like Costa Coffee and McDonalds

• Places to play football and swim

• The circus and fun fairs

• Places to play and places to learn

A huge thank you goes to ChalleNGe Nottingham for supporting this year's Primary Parliament through its Child Friendly Creative City programme.