Students studying the New Zealand political system got a chance to create their own political parties and hold an election.

During the last few weeks of this term, three Year 10 Social Studies classes (10WHNL, 10NHNG, 10SBYS) came together to hold a student election. These three classes created twelve political parties between them to give students a taste of a real political election. There were also five students who volunteered to be a part of a media team whose task was to write a daily newspaper, reporting on the goings -on of the election, and to mimic the real life media role. 

During the course of the election, groups had to delegate Ministers for various agencies such as Transport, Health and Education and develop their own policies. Students studied the manifestos, formed their own opinions on the various parties, and made their decision as to whom they wished to elect. The students had to create campaign badges, posters, and videos that were displayed to the other parties, to help gain votes on election day. All parties were very successful with these tasks and produced some amazing content. It ended up being a very close call during the actual election, with three parties tying for 2nd place. The party with the most votes and who won the election was The Party For Moderate Progress Towards Prosperity Within The Bounds Of The Law, lead by Benjamin Davey and Oscar Chin. It was great to see everyone getting so involved with the political topic and coming up with some ‘outside-of-the box’ ideas and concepts for their party and learning about the election process in New Zealand

Article by Johanna Robson and Manaia Davies (10 WHNL)