Election Day at Matthew Moss

Election Day at Matthew Moss with Liz McInnes

On the 21 April, CragRats visited Matthew Moss High School to run an enterprise day around politics and the upcoming election.

Year 7 learners engaged in group activities where they took part in creating: their own party manifestos; party names; logos; political party broadcasts and a pitch to demonstrate their policy ideas.

Groups presented to each other and undertook a ballot to vote for their peers, based on the promotional material produced.

Unbeknown to potential candidates, learners were also visited by the Labour candidate for Heywood and Middleton Liz McInnes. Students benefited from a speech, explaining the role of an MP. Learners posed questions to Liz regarding migration, the positive parts to politics along with the negative aspects. Liz McInnes then worked with learners to develop their manifestos and party ideas covering further questions on a broad spectrum of topics around the political arena.

James, the CragRats team leader said: “This was fantastic Election Day with delightful Year 7 students. The students took to the tasks with enthusiasm and an awareness that belied their years. They even tackled some sensitive subjects such as immigration with maturity and rational thought.

Their intelligent policies were backed up by creative artwork and most groups gave the Party Political Broadcast a good shot.

It was great to have Liz McInnes attend as I felt this brought politics to life for the students.

Labour’s candidate for Heywood and Middleton, Liz McInnes, said: “I want to thank all the staff and pupils at Mathew Moss for inviting me to be part of their election day.

“I really enjoyed meeting the children and was very impressed with the thought and effort that they put into designing their own political parties.

“It's great to see children being taught about important political issues at such a young age and in a way that is fun and interesting for them.”

The heats and final were hotly contested; tutors wanted extra teams out through to the final! Three out of the four finalists were separated by three votes which was an indication of the quality and standard of the day”.

The CragRats Election Workshop at Matthew Moss School was a great success. The learners thoroughly enjoyed the day, developing their understanding of a topical subject, and demonstrating knowledge on current affairs.