Once every five years or so the country has their say on how things are done with a General Election.

One school, to teach the children about the importance of democracy, has held their own election to coincide with the national polling day.

On Thursday, May 7 the children of Saint Peter and Paul’s Catholic Primary School in Gordon Road, Ilford, entered their votes into the ballot boxes to choose which values the school will promote each month until the summer holidays.

The Year 5 pupils came up with five different values and the children have been campaigning over the past few weeks by holding special assemblies to promote their value.

“The children, with the help of the leadership team, came up with the values which they have been campaigning for,” explained Jane Hull, the deputy headteacher at Saint Peter and Paul’s.

“The values up for election are respect, love and friendship, tolerance and understanding, unity and co-operation and empathy.

Three will be chosen in the vote – one for each month left of the term – to be focused on.

Once the votes were in and a count was held, the winners were announced in a whole school assembly.

The winning values, as voted by over 400 children, were respect, love and friendship, and empathy.

The headteacher, Susan Johnson, said: “At Saint Peter and Paul’s we believe values are important.

“Having a Vote for Values campaign allows the children the opportunity to vote for what they believe in, by carrying out our own election in school.

“They have a good understanding of democracy and how important it is to have a vote.

“Election fever has really hit our school.”