What an exciting time we’ve had in school recently and all in the name of #Democracy! Following announcement of our #ClassMPs here at #TeamOcklynge, it was time to vote in our new #PrimeMinister and #Deputy with our polling station open ready for all of the children to cast their vote following a showcase of talent and speeches from #TeamYear6 candidates. All of the children, teachers and staff included, cast their votes ready for the counting to begin! Mrs Bode, Deputy Headteacher, said:- "We all enjoyed some fantastic speeches from our Year 6 Members of Parliament. All sharing their passion and enthusiasm as to how they will make Ocklynge even better if they were to be voted in as our Ocklynge Prime Minister or Deputy. Well done all of you for speaking up! All year groups listened in awe. We look forward to seeing who has won the #TeamOcklynge vote in assembly, with special guest appearance. Watch this space!" Once the votes were counted, we were all eager with anticipation as to whom had been chosen. We were all excited to see who had been chosen to represent our Ocklynge Parliament as Prime Minister and Deputy, so it was time to welcome a very special parliamentary visitor into school. Our town’s MP, Josh Babarinde OBE. Josh presented to the children, talking about his background and how he became passionate about politics at school and through the inspiration of his teachers. The children listened intently to Josh who, as ever, spoke with passion and enthusiasm which transposed onto our #TeamOcklynge, ready for them to cheer on their new PM and Deputy. We now have 23 Members of Parliament in school, acting as class representatives, with Jonah Pope from Class 6N, elected by the children to represent them as their Prime Minister. Huge congratulations to Jonah for being elected into this important role across our school. We look forward to working with Jonah, who will represent his peers, throughout the rest of this academic year. Further, a big well done to Isabelle Morris-Cox from 6L who has been elected as our Deputy Prime Minister. Again, we look forward to working with Izzy and watching her progress in her new role. The full Parliament will meet for the first time this week. This will give our learners the opportunity to have their say and voice their opinions on what matters to them in and around school. We have no doubt that the school will be safe in their hands! Jonah said:- ‘When Mrs Bode pulled me out of lesson to speak to me, I wondered what was going on. When she told me I’d been voted as the school’s PM I didn’t know what to do with myself! I was super hyped. It’s so cool to not only represent my class as MP, but to also take the extra responsibility of representing the school as PM. I’m so excited to strengthen our school eve further. Thanks to everyone who voted for me.’ Izzy said:- ‘I want to start off by saying that I am very happy that I have been given this opportunity and I am so grateful for the people who have made this happen and voted for me as Deputy. A few things that I would like to achieve with Jonah is to make sure we have lots of time with the animals at Ocklynge as it can be so good for mental wellbeing, bring back eco warriors, reading ambassador workshops and speak-up monitors, and generally just make sure the school can be the best and most welcoming that it can be.’ Well done again to Jonah and Izzy and our Ocklynge Parliament. All of our #TeamOcklynge children have enjoyed learning about democracy and how having a school parliament can help reaffirm one of our school values - 'Responsibility'! Our children have all embodied this school value throughout this process and done themselves and us all here, proud. Well done. Good work #TeamOcklynge! #SouthDownsLearningTrust #SDLT #AchievingSuccessTogether #TeamOcklynge #OcklyngeParliament #BallotBox #Voting #PM #Deputy #PROUD #AchieveBelieve&Succeed
