PUPILS at Burley Oaks Primary School voted in their third election in four years as they mimicked real life on December 12th.

Headteacher Claire Lee said: “The school library acted as the polling station for the day, class councillors were polling station officers, and we had real polling booths which even had pencils on string, just like real life.

“We always have extremely positive feedback from parents who are impressed by the way their children can guide them through what to do at the real polling station!”

Jo Kendall, Year 4 teacher and Lower Key Stage 2 leader, said: “Year 1 pupils are always responsible for a poster campaign explaining the need to register to vote, which creates great excitement throughout the school.

“Children from Year 2 to Year 6 register to vote before the deadline, just as they will when they are adults, after which they receive their own ballot paper enabling them to vote.

“It’s a wonderful way to inspire the children to engage with the democratic process, and while they have a lot of fun they take their right to vote extremely seriously.

“Real election literature was displayed in the school, alongside child-friendly explanations of the key policies of each party and leader for whom the children would have been able to vote in real life.”

In 2017, Burley Oaks pupils voted for a Labour landslide, but it was a different outcome this time.

When the votes were counted, pupils had voted for a Green Party ‘victory’ with 74 votes, while Labour and the Liberal Democrats each received 61 votes, and the Conservative and Brexit parties received a combined total of 60.

Year 6 pupils had campaigned hard for the Green Party, and a ‘Climate Action’ lunchtime session on the last Climate Strike Day was well attended, showing where pupils’ interests lay.

Chair of Governors Christine Smith said: “It was quite a different result when our children voted this year – maybe it’s the Greta Thunberg effect!”