Sbec’s Own General Election Special!
Friday, 21st May, 2010
On 6th May the school council organised and ran our own special version of the General Election. In the run up to the big day Conservative, Liberal AND Labour candidates came into school and gave assemblies outlining their parties policies. The Green Party was also invited but was unable to attend.
To give our school election a twist, the manifestos for the above four parties were given the names of fruits; this meant that pupils and staff voted according to the policies rather than a party. In the run up to the election PDE lessons and tutor time buzzed with election fever as pupils and staff tried to work out which political party matched which fruit policies.
On the big day, Year 7 pupils conducted an ‘exit poll’ and the early signs were for a hung parliament. The big issues that seemed to occupy pupils’ discussions were the PEACHES policies on blood sports, immigration & the Euro; it seems many were against them, but who were the PEACHES? Right to the end, it seemed like the APPLES & ORANGES were battling it out to the finishing post. The MANGOES were holding their own too, with the PEACHES clearly in 4th place, BUT exit polls have been wrong before!
The school councillors manned the booths, handed out voting slips, collected classes and counted the votes. It was a great occasion. The whole school really entered into the spirit of the exercise, with many pupils still reading and arguing over manifestos whilst queuing to vote. It was an impressive sight to see so many young people engaged in the political system.
The following morning, Mr Bloom held a full school assembly. We had hoped to be able to announce who had won the real election but at that point, there was still no clear winner and a hung parliament looked likely. The school hall fell silent as the results of our special election were announced.
The results were as follows:
4th Peaches = Liberal Party 56
3rd Mangoes = Green Party 68
2nd Oranges = Labour Party 89
1st Apples = Conservative Party 108
A massive Thank You to the school council for all their work and to Year 7 for conducting the exit poll. A special thank you to all the pupils and staff who entered into the spirit of the occasion.
Mrs Cheyne