PUPILS at a York primary school are taking over at City of York Council this week.

Six members of Heworth CE School’s school council will be accompanying Coun Carol Runciman in her role as executive member for children and young people’s services, on Wednesday.

The day is a trial run for Take Over Week, which runs in November, when youngsters across the city and across the country will be taking on adult jobs.

On Wednesday, the children from Heworth Primary School will meet Coun Runciman at the Guildhall in the morning and will then join the council’s city centre events team to talk about things going on in the city centre, including the markets.

At lunchtime, they will head to Joseph Rowntree School for lunch with its school council, and to be shown around the school. The school council members, all aged between seven and ten years of age, will take part in meetings during the course of the day, before running the primary schools council conference themselves during Take Over Week, which this year runs from November 3 to November 7.

This will culminate in National Take Over Day on Friday, November 7, during which children and young people across the country will have the chance to take over from adults in their jobs and other roles. Later in the day, two of the Heworth Primary School pupils will be attending the young people’s working group meeting in the afternoon, at 4pm.

The meeting will be held at Bedern Hall, off St Andrewgate, instead of its usual venue, the Guildhall, and City of York Council is welcoming children and young people in York to come along.

In York, Take Over Day is being extended to Take Over Week, during which there will be a number of events, including children shadowing Coun Runciman and Pete Dwyer, the director of children and young people’s services.

Coun Runciman said: “National Take Over Day is a great opportunity for many children and young people to learn about various jobs and roles which adults do, and to experience their roles first-hand. What better way to learn about something, than to get stuck in and do it yourself.

“I was therefore very keen that we extended this opportunity for a whole week, as Take Over Day was so successful last year. I am looking forward to meeting with members of the Heworth school council next week to help them get ready for their schools council conference during Take Over Week.”