You heard it here first. The 2017 General Election will be a win for Labour if the Sharples School Mock Election (held this week) is a guide to go by. The detailed results were as follows:
1. Labour (54%)
2. Conservative (16%)
3=. Liberal Democrat (12%)
3=. UKIP (12%)
5. Green (6%)
A total of 587 students (and staff) voted this week in secret ballots with ballot papers and ballot boxes. This was designed to emulate real-life conditions. This was to give all our year 7 – 10 students the experience of taking part in an election. After all, they are the voters of tomorrow.
Beforehand, students took part in sessions in their History lessons (or in History, Geography or RS for Year 10 students) to guide them in how elections work and in the importance of taking part. One Year 8 History class also enjoyed the experience of counting the votes – which was not a small task!
All in all it has been a big success, with students enjoying the chance to learn about the democratic process by taking part. Some student quotes included the following: “Now we know how to vote, we are more likely to vote when we are old enough in the future.” “We had a chance to have our say.” “It was the best.” They will watch the real general election in June with more understanding as a result and hopefully be active voters in the future.
