WHILE the electorate headed to the polling station to vote in the Parliamentary and County Council elections, a local school has devised its own special election to promote issues affecting their lives.

As the candidates bite their nails in anticipation of today's election count, children at Walton-le-Dale High School, in Brindle Road, Bamber Bridge, are eager to get to school tomorrow (Friday) to see who has won their mock election.

While the political contenders have pounded the streets in Preston and South Ribble for vital votes youngsters at Walton-le-Dale High School, in Brindle Road, Bamber Bridge, have been campaigning on the school playground on matters concerning them.

Class teacher Joy Elliott jumped on the election band wagon to encourage children to learn various topics from animal rights to the dangers of smoking.

Youngsters with the strongest opinions became the candidates in the elections and wore coloured rosettes to make their speeches to the voters.

Election parties include the Better School Meals party, the Anti-Smoking party and the Green Issues party.

The youngster's 'election' campaign is part of the school's Citizenship and Personal Social Education (PSE) classes and proved to be a great way of involving the youngsters in the country's election process.

Today (Thursday) each 'party leader' will give a speech to the rest of the class and the children will have to vote in a secret ballot for the best party.

Mrs Elliott said: "Elections don't usually include children. We wanted to give them a chance to get involved. In Citizenship and PSE classes the children learn about things like animal rights, anti-smoking, and anti-drinking.

"And we found that most children felt very strongly about these subjects. So our election was issue-led rather than about politics."

"It was a chance to involve the children and will help to give them an idea of what voting in an election is really like.

"It was a daunting experience for the candidates, as they had to talk to an entire year group. The children involved were quite nervous, but there was a real sense of excitement to hear the candidates speeches. This really meant something to them."