On 13 October, Year 9 and Year 10 Social Studies classes took part in the Electoral commission’s national vote for high schools. Across all classes our students predicted the swing to Labour, voting for a Labour electorate MP in Te Atatu as well as 61% take of the party vote. Green were second in the party vote on 11% closely followed by National on 7%. We also voted on the two referendums with both being given a yes vote.

This was a good experience as it gave students an idea of how the New Zealand voting system works and how easy it is to vote. During the previous holidays, we used websites like “On the Fence” to find which party policies we most aligned with. This helped inform our voting decisions. It has been proposed in both New Zealand and Australia that voting age be reduced to 16, therefore it is important that high school students know the value of their democratic right.