Harton Primary School

Harton Primary School has had a school council for many years now. A new council is elected every year at the beginning of the Autumn Term, and allows children a full experience of the democratic process. This is a key component of the British Values strand of the curriculum. Each class has preliminary hustings in order to produce a short list of 3 candidates.

Voting slips were prepared, and these candidates stood up in class and gave their election address. Class by class, the pupils voted in secret, using privacy booths borrowed from the Town Hall and then placed their folded votes in the ballot boxes.

Four Year 6 children oversaw the whole operation from giving out voting slips, to counting the cast votes and identifying a class winner. The newly chosen class representatives were announced in a whole school assembly and now wear their School Council badges with pride. Meetings will be held regularly, and there are a number of items on the agenda already.

At the first meeting, representatives will elect a Chair, Secretary and Treasurer. As far as possible, they will run meetings themselves to ensure that the pupils of Harton Primary do have a real voice!