PHSG students host their own mock election
As part of PHSG’s preparation for this week’s General Election, members of our Sixth Form helped raise awareness and engagement by hosting a debate, taking on the roles of spokesperson for each of the main political parties. With a large audience taking up much of the Newman Hall, students from all year groups had an opportunity to put questions to the parties regarding a broad range of issues ranging from tuition fees and mental health to transgender rights and Gaza in what proved to be, at times, a very lively and enlightening debate.
The debate was followed by a whole school mock election on the Tuesday morning where every student across KS3, KS4 and KS5 had the opportunity to vote through secret ballot for the party they felt best represented their views and hopes for the country. This had clearly provoked conversations between students, with many sharing with their friends and family afterwards how they voted and why. The count took place and at Wednesday breaktime, the day before the real thing, Plymouth High gave its verdict.
And it was overwhelmingly in favour of the Liberal Democrats winning 177 of the 402 votes cast, thanks largely to huge numbers of Year 9 and 10 voting for the party. In second place were the Greens with 88 votes with Labour in third with 75. Reform finished with 51 votes while the Conservatives ended with 11 votes.
A big thank you should go to our five intrepid sixth formers who took on the roles of representatives for the political parties and prepared thoroughly for the debate, scanning manifestos and watching the debates. These include the candidate of the winning party, Janek. Olivia (Green), Sarah (Labour), Tom (Conservative) and Joshua (Reform). They all did a fantastic job – well done.
