Bury pupils given a flavour of the political process

As the nation turned to the polls to decide who would lead the county, pupils at Dorset House School, in Bury, were using freshly baked cupcakes to represent their ballots.

However, it wasn’t just the tasty treats which helped to give youngsters a flavour of the political process.

In the run-up to the election, children from reception right the way up to year eight were learning about the trials and tribulations that many prospective politicians had to go through in order to win a seat in Westminster.

The schools older children investigated different manifestos from each party and watched clips on the parliamentary website before discussing how the voting system worked.

Sarah O’Brien, spokeswoman from the school, said: “One question the children were keen to know the answer to was ‘Does the Queen vote?’ – they were surprised to learn that she could but she doesn’t.

“They learnt about the birth of democracy, discovering how the ancient Athenians used tokens for secret voting and followed through to the Magna Carta and votes for women in Britain.

“The whole process of voting from the polling card to the ballot box has captured their imagination.

“They were eager to find out the result of the election.”

For the school’s younger children, the election was wrapped up in a week learning about what it meant to be British,

Mrs O’Brien added: “The pupils worked across different year groups, learning about Great Britain and the Commonwealth, researching British heroes and what it means to be a hero.

“They learnt about the Queen, and why we have a democracy and designed T shirts, adding different elements each day, to represent what it means to be British.”