3 Nayland students took on the Commonwealth last week when they represented the school at the National Student Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting.

The event usually takes place in the parliamentary chambers of Wellington, but this year, due to Covid-19 restrictions, the event took place virtually, with each representative joining the meeting over Zoom.

Students were each assigned a Commonwealth country to represent. The students then had to create, negotiate, compromise around, and vote on a series of resolutions dealing with the topic of the refugees. Throughout the day, the students approached this topic from an environmental, economic, and human rights perspective, attempting to reach a consensus with the other commonwealth countries.

The Nayland contingent taking part this year consisted of 3 Year 10 students: Astrid Sayer, Pippa Sussex and Ysabella Able. Astrid was given the task of representing Uganda, Pippa represented South Africa, and Ysabella, who was not able to take part on the day, helped both ‘countries’ with the formidable amount of research that was needed before the event, as representatives needed to approach the meeting in a way that upheld the existing geo-political aspirations of their assigned country.

Just like real politics, the girls found that much of the negotiation happened behind the scenes of the ‘proper’ meeting.

‘You had to figure out which countries were wanting the same thing as you,” Pippa explained. “So you would message them privately and be like ‘this is my resolution, would you back this if I brought it up?’ and if they did, you could bring it forward and you two could try and convince other people.”

Astrid found it interesting how the role playing dynamic of the event, affected the participants decision making.

“It was quite interesting how other people embodied their countries. I got bullied by the UK!” said Astrid, whose assigned country Uganda used to be a British colony. “In the commonwealth, for a resolution to be passed, there needs to be a consensus. I said no against their resolution and the UK was not very happy with me because I was the only person who said no against their resolution. So they were messaging me and saying, ‘what if I bargained you this, what if I supported you on this...’”

The event also allowed the girls to consolidate and practice a variety of skills. Pippa, who is also part of the school debating club, found that while those skills came in handy, it was the art of compromise that was needed more often than not.

“Debating came in handy for being able to challenge each other’s views,” Pippa said. “Unlike debating though, you had to pick your side, you had to pick your arguments and you were allowed to change your mind. So rather than just arguing against the person, you kind of ask questions.”

“You have to compromise,” Ysabella added. “Being able to work well with others would be another important skill we had to use.”

“It made me realise that it is not easy to come to conclusions,” Pippa continued. “You might agree with your citizens on a pressing issue, but you can’t get it past because of other leaders or other people who have different views because they come from a different background. I have more sympathy in a way for the government that has to go through that.”

The girls found that taking part in the event, even though it was a just simulation of the real thing, went some way towards demystifying the political process.

“The world is run by this?” Astrid laughed. “It is quite funny, because you imagine this huge sort of complex system. Whereas actually, it is a whole lot of sitting down and negotiating.”

“It is not as complicated or intimidating as you think,” Pippa said.