On Tuesday 26^th November, SGGS had the privilege of having the Stratford parliamentary candidates visit our school to do a hustings.  As several of us in Year 13, myself included, can now vote, it was a really good opportunity to learn more about these particular candidates, as well as what the parties’ policies are on the whole.

 

I had the opportunity to meet all of the candidates (Nadhim Zahawi, Conservative; Dominic Skinner, Liberal Democrats; Felix Ling, Labour and Dave Passingham, Green) before the hustings began, and it was really interesting to listen to them talk about some of their goals for Stratford upon Avon.  Once the husting began, albeit after a brief intermission in which the fire alarm accidentally went off, some students from the Sixth Form and Year 11 asked a series of questions to all the candidates.  These included questions about the environment, the lack of trust people have in politicians and how they feel it could be combatted, and a question about the NHS. These all encouraged a lively round of debate between the candidates with some polite but passionate disagreements about certain areas of policy.

 

All of us who attended really enjoyed listening to some of their answers and we also learned a lot about the candidate’s personal views of issues such as the climate crisis. The hustings finished with a lighthearted question of ‘who do you admire’ with answers ranging from their children (Dominic Skinner) to Aneurin Bevan, who set up the NHS (Felix Ling).

The afternoon was both engaging and educational and I know it will have helped a lot of people who will be voting for the first time, to be able to a make a more informed decision on who they want to vote for and embrace the privilege we have that is voting.

 

The husting was especially key as we are holding a school General Election with student candidates standing for each of the parties. I am the Conservative candidate, and I especially found Nadhim’s answers interesting,  and I picked up lots of ideas for our own school hustings as well as an indication of the sorts of questions I could be asked.

 

Gracie Mitchell, Year 13

 

Some videos were taken of the hustings, which can be seen on our SGGS YouTube Channel HERE: