‘MAKE your voices heard’ is the message to Monmouthshire’s young people as county councillors visited schools during Local Democracy Week with the aim of inspiring children to speak out.

Pupils participated in a variety of activities to discover what makes a good councillor, raising awareness of their roles and sharing the importance of having a say on things in their community that affect them.

Councillors Tudor Thomas and Roger Harris visited Llanvihangel Primary School while Councillor Sara Jones joined pupils at Llanfoist Fawr.

Children and councillors participated in fun activities, to reinforce that being a councillor isn’t just a popularity contest.

Pupils were asked to pick the best celebrity to be a councillor by firstly looking at the qualities needed to be an effective councillor and then transferring these to the celebrities.

Councillor Sara Jones said, ‘I am so pleased that schools welcomed us in to their classrooms. Local Democracy Week is a useful opportunity to plant a seed about the importance of having a voice and hopefully will lead to more young people using their vote when the time comes.’