6 December 2019
Mrs Payne, Woldingham’s Head of Politics, has done a great job of keeping the whole school community objectively informed about the December general election. This included sharing details of how to register to vote, the deadline for applying for a postal vote and links to all parties’ manifestos.
While some of Woldingham’s Sixth Formers will be eligible to vote for the first time, the majority of our students won’t. However, everyone had an opportunity to make their voice heard in Woldingham’s own mock election. Sixth Form politics students campaigned on behalf of various UK political parties, worked hard to research manifestos and shared campaign messages via emails, party political videos and visits to year areas.
In a special assembly on Monday 2 December, each ‘candidate’ made a brief final pitch before everyone had the opportunity to put a cross on their ballot paper and place it into a box on their way out. The votes were counted on the same day. The results were:
1) Liberal Democrats = 173 (32%)
2) Green Party = 169 (31%)
3) Conservative = 140 (26%)
4) Labour = 37 (6%)
5) Brexit Party = 15 (3%)
(spoilt ballots =3)
‘The vote was very close, which is a good demonstration that every vote really does matter,’ said Mrs Payne.