Recently, we noticed various posts on social media popping up about an election happening in South Africa... No - not the general election, the President of Letterland election!
As part of a campaign to educate their little learners on the importance of voting, Highbury Preparatory School decided to hold their very own elections, and invited all their Grade R students to participate.
The Candidates
Quarrelsome Queen
Clever Cat
Noisy Nick
Each candidate had their own campaign, including some pretty persuasive poster advertising on election morning.
'We gave them pros and cons of each candidate, one being Quarrelsome Queen and we discussed her personality and character, Noisy Nick who is young, possibly a bit irresponsible yet fun and Clever Cat who is very sensible and good at solving problems. The boys were given quite a thorough run-down of the candidates and told to go home and ponder and decide who they felt would be a responsible leader. They returned the next morning full of ideas on who they were going to vote for.'
- Mrs Judy Keeley, Grade R Teacher
The Vote
In line with the IEC (Independent Electoral Commission) regulations for the South African general election, all students had to bring their Identity Document (which they had made in class previously) with them to the voting station. The ID books included a drawn picture of themselves and their fingerprint.
Students were then issued with their ballot paper - and their fingernails were marked with indelible ink, so that no one could vote more than once!
Then finally it was time to mark their paper in the voting station, and submit their vote into the ballot box!
'It was emphasised to the boys that it is their responsibility to contribute and they learned about free and fair elections and how they were free to vote for who they wanted to. They did not have to discuss this with their peers and were in fact encouraged not to tell anyone who they were voting for.'
- Mrs Judy Keeley, Grade R Teacher
The Result
After a tense vote counting (overseen by some very enthusiastic voters), the result was in. And the new President of Letterland was...
Clever Cat!
Significantly beating Quarrelsome Queen and Noisy Nick in the polls, Clever Cat was the winning candidate - and we think she'll make a very good President of Letterland for Highbury Preparatory School.
We would like to say well done to the teachers at Highbury Preparatory School for coming up with such a creative and exciting way to teach their students about a very important topic - and a big thank you for including Letterland!
Hosted your own #LetterlandDay recently? We'd love to hear about it. Drop us an email at info@letterland.com or tag us in your post on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram. We may even write a blog post about you!