King's pupils are taking a keen interest in the General Election

King's pupils are taking a keen interest in the General Election with our own mock election...

Flickr album: King's Bruton General Election 2024 | Height: auto | Theme: Default | Skin: Default Skin

Friday at 11am saw the last chance for pupils to vote and the Polling Station closed. Our Returning Officers (George and Liv) then counted the votes. Turnout was high at 79.4%. In the 3^rd Form constituency the Liberal Democrats were victorious. In the 4^th & 5^th Form constituency, Reform UK won. In the L6^th & U6^th Form constituency the Labour candidate won. Thankfully, Ludo (Labour) and Freddy (Liberal Democrats) agreed to form a coalition, and thus we had a winning/governing group! My thanks to all the pupils involved in the Mock general Election - it has been great to see democracy in action and so much debate and discussion occurring!

Rev'd George Beverly - Head of Politics

We held a lively hustings event as part of our Mock General Election. Candidates from Labour, Conservatives, Liberal Democrats, Reform UK, and the Green parties all answered questions and debated with each other’s policies. Their campaign managers provided them with valuable support and advice whilst they grappled with answering the numerous questions on topics from the NHS and climate change, through to immigration and taxation. Before the questions/debate, the candidates came on to a short piece of entrance music that they had chosen, followed by giving an opening speech. At the end of the debate/hustings they each gave a brief closing speech. It was encouraging to have over 45 questions submitted by pupils in advance with a lively amount of questions given from the floor too. Current pupil polls show that the electorate is rather changeable - so we look forward to discovering the result during Final Assembly on Friday!

Rev'd George Beverly - Head of Politics

Whilst we all knew there would eventually be a general election this year, few of us were expecting the Prime Minister to call a snap election for 4^th July. It’s been super to see how enthralled the L6^th Form and U6^th Form A Level Politics pupils have been during the first three weeks of the campaigning. 

If I’m honest, the U6^th Form were slightly frustrated - it meant that they now had to learn a whole host of new election case studies for their summer exams; the 2019 General Election case studies were no longer the most up-to-date ones. That noted, at the start of nearly every politics lesson, pupils have been eagerly sharing their reflections and insights on what the parties are up not. Whether it has been Rishi Sunak’s National Service policy backfiring, Ed Davey’s high-jinx activities, or Nigel Farage’s very strong social media presence and headline grabbing campaign style. Moreover, the Sunak vs Starmer TV debates have soaked up lots of our conversation and the much livelier seven-party TV debates have caused lots of similarly contentious debates during lessons. In many ways, this is precisely what I want pupils to be doing during an election - debating and disagreeing well with each other - it reflects a healthy democratic society and a generation of young people who are eager to see this country go from strength to strength.

There have been three particular highlights at King's associated with the general election so far. The first Monday School Assembly after half term, saw five L6^th Form A Level Politics pupils run us through key features of the election. 

Alexina did a superb job at explaining why this election especially matters, both from an historic perspective and also given the current geopolitical climate. Jeevan and Harriet outlined the differences in policy for the Labour Party & Conservative Party in several areas. Following that, Tom and Max explained how the First Past The Post (FPTP) electoral system leads to an unproportional result inside the House of Commons. 

The second highlight was on Thursday 13^th June, twenty-five L6^th Form A Level Politics pupils attended the Glastonbury and Somerton constituency parliamentary prospective candidates hustings in St Marty’s Church, Bruton. Our MP Sarah Dyke (Liberal Democrats) alongside the Conservative, Labour, Reform, and Green candidates answered questions and sparred with each other’s ideas. It was fab to see several of our pupils’ questions publicly asked and answered. All those who attended were gripped, with many staying afterwards to chat one-to-one with the different candidates. 

The last highlight of the term is still to come (at the time of writing): a mock general election will take place in the last week of term (once all the internal and external exams are completed). Pupils will stand as candidates for each party, with other pupils running polling stations, carrying out polls, and acting as returning officers. The results will be announced in the Final Assembly! Thus, we look forward to a lively final few days of the academic year! 

Rev'd George Beverly - Head of Politics
 

Great to have 22 @KingsBruton @KSBSixthForm A Level Politics pupils at this evening's General Election hustings in St Mary's Bruton! #KSBPolitics #KSBSixthForm #KSBQuality pic.twitter.com/iImJLnJAhq

— Politics Department (@KSBPolitics) June 13, 2024

#KSBPolitics #KSBAcademics