On 25 May, we decided it would be a great idea to hold our own general election at the school. As a United Nations Rights Respecting School, we are very keen to involve children in all aspects of whole school decision making, and this was excellent timing.

We know how special these days can be as we had done a very similar exercise prior to the 2015 general election. Children really enjoyed going through the process at school and then seeing it unfold, practically identically, when accompanying their families as they went to vote.

In trying to mimic the actual process as closely as possible, we produced and sent home polling cards for each child and family, created realistic ballot papers, constructed private voting booths and made up ballot boxes for everyone to cast their votes in. The whole day was overseen by Returning Officers (governors and family members) who ensured that all voters were cross-referenced to our electoral register, thus modelling the procedure designed to ensure that no-one is able to vote twice. On the day, one of our rooms became the polling station, open for voting from 7am to 7pm.

We organised for every child in our school to vote (in person, by telephone or email) and also encouraged as many adults to take part as possible, too - parents, carers and family members, governors, members of our local community, our local Police Community Support Officer (PCSO), peripatetic teachers, the school kitchen staff, our counsellor, children and staff from our two local secondary schools, representatives from the Local Authority, alumni and, most incredibly, the Varndean School Goats.

The latter of these may need a little explanation.

Shared values

Varndean School is one of two Secondary Schools with whom we share a campus. They have recently acquired five goats. Our election seemed an ideal opportunity for our children to get to know them better. The invitation for them to vote was accepted without hesitation and we soon started to work out the partialities that would enable the goats to interpret the ballot paper.

We were told that if the choices on the ballot paper were printed out big and presented to them on separate sheets, they would vote by eating their preferred design.

In 2015, we used the school election to vote for our school values. The ballot papers contained the 12 most popular suggestions that had emerged from an extensive period of consultation involving all our children, staff, governors and families.

The six values that received the most votes following the election have now become our whole school values: friendly, caring, respectful, enthusiastic, courageous and ambitious.

In 2017, we used the school election to vote for the definitive designs of each of the animals that help us to learn - the curious meerkat, the collaborative ant, the creative spider, the resourceful chameleon, the reflective owl and the resilient tortoise.

Earlier in the year, I had set the children the challenge of creating a design for each of the animals. All the designs submitted were then placed on our website so that the children and their families could vote for their favourite ones. The top three choices from the online vote were used to populate the ballot papers for this year’s school election.

I could never have anticipated that the day could have produced so many special moments for our children, their families and all the other people (and goats) involved.

Entering the gates

Every morning, I stand at the gate to welcome our families to school. On Election Day I started my shift at 7am and I was delighted that the first family arriving said they had come especially early to vote as a family before going to work.

Just after they had all voted, I noticed that mum was feeling rather emotional - it turned out that this was the first time she had ever been able to vote in the UK after having lived here for many years but not yet acquired a British passport. I felt a great sense of privilege that the school had created the circumstances that meant so much to the family.

Soon after, I was treated to quite an extraordinary sight - seeing a mum and her two children walking up to the school gate jumping with joy and waving their polling card was a very special moment indeed. To have created the conditions that enabled a family to approach school with so much enthusiasm will, I feel, have a very positive impact on those children’s perception of school and education.

A few moments later, a dad came into the Polling Station carrying a baby on his back, a toddler in hand and an elder brother who is in Year 1. The older child immediately started to explain the whole process of how to vote for his two-year-old brother.

It was incredibly moving to see this happening and to then see the toddler cast his vote which meant that he was voting for his future. We also had a Year 2 girl explaining the whole process, but this time she was explaining it all to grandma, who then proceeded to cast her vote with so great pride.

I then managed to intercept a number of ex-Balfour students who were on their way to their respective secondary schools. They were delighted to be asked to vote and immediately began to reminisce about the values general election from two years ago that had meant so much to them.

As school was about to start for the day, I started to hand over the responsibility of the returning officer to the wonderful group of governors and parent volunteers who had volunteered to help and be part of our special day. To my amazement, one of our grandparents and neighbours came over to us and offered to help. Little did we know that elections are “his thing”. He proceeded to lead a talk for the children as each class came in to vote, including a wealth of information.

It added so much to the children’s experience and to the sense of community cohesion at the school. Indeed, the feeling of the school being at the heart of our local community continued throughout the day.

Votes for goats

I was delighted that so many different people came to cast their vote - the local PCSO, our kitchen staff, the governors, representatives from the local authority, headteachers, staff, children and goats from the local schools. There were even some family members who were visiting from Vermont.

The highlight of the afternoon was seeing the goats vote. True to their word, they ate the one they wanted to vote. This was an experience that the children will never forget. We have already started to liaise with Varndean to work out how “goat qualities” can also help us to develop into successful lifelong learners.

The sealed ballot boxes have now been handed over to the Year 6 children, who will work together to work out a way of counting all the votes and disseminating the results.

At Balfour Primary, we have established a set of values to enable children to become successful contributors to society, a set of rights to encourage children to become successful citizens of the world and a set of lifelong learning dispositions to encourage children to develop all the qualities of successful lifelong learners. I cannot believe how, in one day, the election process enabled us to highlight these three key components of our educational philosophy so powerfully for every child, family, and goat.

A perfect day in education and one so needed at a time when so much of the focus on education is on assessment, workload and the financial security of our schools. 

Marcelo Staricoff is the headteacher at Balfour Primary School.

If your school is hosting a mock election and you’d be happy to share the results with us, please contact Kate.Parker@tesglobal.com. 

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For all the latest news, views and analysis in the run up to voting day, visit our general election 2017 hub.