Leckford General Election

Educating our students about life outside of d’Overbroeck’s on topical events is something we take seriously. With the General Election in Westminster, the excitement within the school was palpable as political fever hit Leckford throughout last week when our Years 7-11 Mock General Election took place.

The next time some of our students will vote might well be for a real election, therefore what better practice to understand the ins and outs of the process than by becoming involved in the mock event at d’Overbroeck’s? Proceedings kicked off on Monday when each of the parties gave a one-minute introductory speech, followed by the candidates getting grilled by the students whose votes they were seeking.

Students from across the school had submitted questions in form time last week, and the most popular topics were chosen to be put to the candidates these included:

“What is your party going to do to help solve the climate crisis?”

“How is your party going to address overcrowding in our hospitals?”

“How are you going to pay for your spending plans?”

“How does your party plan to deal with Brexit?”

“How does your party intend to address the gap between rich and poor in this country?”

Each Party was impressively well-prepared, and the level of detail in the debate was superb.

In fact, such was their enthusiasm for debate that the candidates asked to put on another Hustings event on Wednesday lunchtime. The all-important results were…

Total Votes: 189 Spoilt ballots: 5

Brexit Party: 26 (13.8%)

Conservative Party: 9 (4.8%)

Liberal Democrat Party: 54 (28.6%)

Labour Party: 23 (12.2%)

Green Party: 72 (38.1%)

Congratulations to Isaac G and Thomas J, the candidates for the Green Party!

A huge well done to all involved in the campaigning for a very respectful and carefully researched election campaign.

D'Overbroeck's considers political education of its students to be very important and also runs an A-level Politics and Government programme for its sixth form students.