Queenswood’s Academic Scholars have been engaged in a number of political-themed activities over the last week as the school prepares for a Mock Election on Thursday 19 March.

The Scholars were divided, by a random lottery, into groups representing five of the parties contesting the General Election in May. Each group was tasked with producing a Party Political Broadcast video, putting up representatives to speak at a lively ‘hustings’ meeting in the dining hall, and setting forth and defending their party’s manifesto pledges in a grand debate, held in the Clarissa Farr Theatre on March 12.

The atmosphere in the debate was highly charged, and each of the leaders and their deputies spoke eloquently and knowledgeably about party policy. It was a considerable challenge for the Scholars to assimilate and distill such a wealth of information in such a short amount of time, and they were superb both at defending and rebutting arguments.

There were probing questions from the floor, and the packed audience were polled at the exit on how they think each of the parties had fared on four key areas of policy: education, the economy, Europe and immigration, and welfare. The results were fascinating, and reveal that the Queenswood community is certainly very politically astute.

The school has been broken down into nine ‘constituencies’, comprising the Houses, Sixth Form groups and staff, and we go to the polls this coming Thursday. Whatever the outcome, we are sure that everyone involved has learned a great deal about the political process, and will be mroe informed about the decisions that face the British electorate in the run-up to the real General Election in May.