Mock election

Ahead of the General Election on 8 June our Head of History and Politics, Dr Alison Gundy, organised our own Senior School and Sixth Form mock elections, which saw campaigns led by Lower Sixth Politics students Nazifa Z., Olivia S., Krystal Y., and Roca C. take place in weeks leading up to 8 June. Each Sixth Form student worked with a group of girls from Year 7 to Year 10 to campaign on behalf of one political party: Labour, Liberal Democrats, Green and Conservative. Each group of girls produced posters, flyers and a manifesto, which were displayed around school, and the Sixth Form girls led Lower School and Upper School assemblies in which they explained the process of the general election. Year 8 History students have been studying the growth of democracy in Britain, which was an excellent opportunity to discuss how our modern electoral system works; some Year 8 girls wrote passionate speeches about whether the voting age should be lowered from 18. We also held a Question Time style session where girls could come along and ask questions about the parties’ policies and the election itself. Dr Gundy conducted a traditional opinion poll, stopping and asking students how they intended to vote, in which the Conservative party had a lead, but in an online opinion poll results suggested a surge in support for the Green party. On the actual day of the mock election, however, it was the Liberal Democrat party that won the most votes, closely followed by the Conservative party, with Labour in third place and the Green party in fourth; this shows just how inaccurate opinion polling can sometimes be! Students have continued to discuss the implications of the General Election results with the girls, holding a Q&A session after the election took place, and continue to follow events with great interest.