Students and Staff go to the Polls

At 8:45am we opened up room G7 as our polling station for the day. Sixth form students did a fantastic job of running the polling station and each member of the group had a go at being the presiding officer. With nearly 1000 students and staff coming through the polling station in the space of 4 hours the students did extremely well to cope with the pressure.

The enthusiasm from all students both in the polling station and around school for the general election was wonderful to see. In the weeks leading up to the mock general election, tutors have been running a number of specific tutorial sessions to help students understand the policies behind the different political parties. Many students took voting in their stride and some students were understandably unsure about what to do and who to vote for. It was a great learning experience for all students involved and it has certainly made many students think about politics and about the importance of voting.

Samuel Illescas-Ruiz (Year 13) who was one of the polling station staff said: “This mock election is a great way to prepare students for what to expect after finishing school. One of the biggest complaints about school is that, while it does help students to achieve the grades they need for future employment, it can often fail in preparing them for life outside school. This mock election is important in not only educating but also encouraging our generation to vote and have our voices heard.”

During the last lesson the votes were counted and presented to students. The results of our mock general election are shown in the graph.

As I write this article the results of the actual general election are feeding through thick and fast indicating a conservative majority. I wonder if Jeremy Corbyn might take some comfort from the results of our mock general election!

Mr A. Wilkinson