MARSDEN Heights Community College gave youngsters a taste of election fever as it holds its own mock election.

Pupils at the Pendle school, which opened in its new £22.1million building after the Easter break, will be voting alongside millions of others on May 6 to chose a party to represent the school.

School bosses decided to incorporate this year’s hot topic into the curriculum to get children involved and also broaden their understandings of politics.

Already the area’s candidates Gordon Prentice, for Labour, Andrew Stephenson, for Conservatives, and Afzal Anwar, for Liberal Democrats, have visited the school to take part in Marsden Heights campaign launch.

The three prospective parliamentary candidates held a workshop and youngsters in year nine and 10 were also given speeches about their plans for the area.

They then introduced student candidates Sami Younis for Labour, Aneesa Mahmood for Conservative and Chris Tibbs for the Liberal Democrats, who spoke of their ideas.

The trio are currently canvassing for votes during lunch and break times.

Scott Pilkington, head of year eight and election coordinator, said: "The feedback from the assembly has been excellent.

“The students have taken on so much from the visit of the candidates and are fully engaged in their election lessons. As the campaigns have got underway their is a real buzz around the college and everyone is looking forward to the election on Thursday."

The results from the mock election will be announced after 3.15pm.

After the voting takes place on May 6 the winning party will be taken down to London for a trip around the Houses of Parliament.

The school is one of a number of education institutions which has run election related events since the General Election campaign launch.

Nelson and Colne College has held a hustings event as has Burnley College, which had its own Question Time style session with students and the Liberal Democrats candidate Gordon Birtwistle, Conservative candidate Richard Ali and Labour candidate Julie Cooper.