Primary School Resource
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Voting
www.parliament.uk/education
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In this booklet we explore the idea
of voting using activities and story.
Pupils will consider when it might
be necessary to vote and think
about some different ways to vote.
They will also reflect on how it
feels to win or lose a vote.
Core concepts/skills
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Taking part and making decisions
Respecting decisions of the group
Speaking and listening
Finding out, researching different options
Key vocabulary
fair
vote
persuade
take
part
choose
decide
elect
election
ballot
www.parliament.uk/education
select
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S ne
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Thinking about making
decisions as a group
Get your pupils thinking about
some of the different ways they
make decisions.
Ask
•H
ow do you decide which book to
have as a bedtime story?
• How do you decide who goes first or
who is ‘it’ when you’re playing?
• What different ways can we make
decisions as a whole class?
Some decisions are easy and might only affect one
person. However, when a group of people need to
decide together, voting is a way for everyone to have
their say.
Ask pupils to give their opinion about different
statements by voting. You could try voting in different
ways, for example, by putting their hands up, moving
to different places in the room or by using a mock
ballot paper.
Use these simple statements to get
your class expressing their opinions
by voting.
•A
ll children should help with
housework for an hour at the
weekends
• Children should not be allowed
to talk during playtime
• All children should receive
pocket money
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Do you
agree or
disagree?
Sto r y
t ime
The class vote
This story can be used for
guided reading or during circle
time. An easy read version is
available online.
Stanley stood at the window looking out at the soggy playground.
He fogged the window with his breath and drew a sad face, “Not
another wet play,” he grumbled to himself. It was true, the children
had been inside all week and now they were thoroughly fed up,
fidgeting to get out for some fresh air.
When Mr. Amir appeared after lunch with a broad smile on his face,
the class looked up expectantly.
“I have some exciting news 2J,” he grinned, “We will be going on
a class trip.”
Stanley felt his bad mood melt away, as his mind started to rush
through all the fun places they could visit.
“This trip will be a little different,” Mr Amir went on, “as you will have the chance to
decide, as a class, where we will go!”
“On Monday you will vote for the place you would like
to visit. You can choose between a science museum,
an outdoor adventure centre or a ride on a steam
train.” A buzz of chattering opinion flooded
the room.
We’re
going to
have a
vote
“So over the weekend find out as much as you can
about the three places to help you decide. If you
want, you can tell the rest of the class your reasons
for choosing a particular place to visit to try to persuade
them to vote for your favourite.”
When Monday came around, Stanley was prepared. Even though
he loved the science museum, he had decided to write down his
reasons for choosing the outdoor adventure centre, determined to
persuade his friends to ‘vote for outside fun!’. When Stanley’s turn
came to speak his knees felt like jelly, but, remembering all those
wet play times, he began to find his voice.
www.parliament.uk/education
“Now it’s time to place your votes,” said Mr. Amir as he handed out slips of paper with
the three places written on them.
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“Put a tick next to the place you would like to visit and when you’re finished come
and put it in the box. Whichever place gets the most votes will be where we go on our
school trip!”
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S c ie n ce M u s
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Stea m Tra in
Questions
• What do you think happens next?
• What would you have chosen?
• Do you think voting was a good way
to decide where to go? Was it fair?
• How do you think Stanley would feel
if the adventure centre wasn’t the
winning vote?
• Do you think voting is important? Why?
• Can you think of a different way the
class could have voted?
www.parliament.uk/education
A b o u te nt
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Finding out about
Parliament and voting
Use the information and the
image bank to introduce your
pupils to Parliament and voting.
All through life we have choices and
need to make decisions. Some decisions are very
important and affect everyone in the country!
Did you know?
The UK has over 64 million people living in it and
everyone has lots of different opinions and ideas
about the right way to do things. How do we ever
decide on anything?
We vote!
During an election, adults vote to choose one
person to represent their local area in Parliament.
They choose a person who they think has good ideas
and will make the right decisions. The UK is split up
into areas called constituencies and during an election
all the people living in the same area have a vote to
choose a person to represent their area. They do this
by marking a cross next to the name of the person
they are choosing on a special paper called a
‘ballot paper’.
Once everyone has voted, all the papers are counted
and the person with the most votes becomes the
Member of Parliament (or MP for short) for that area.
There are 650 MPs in total and their job is to give the
people in their local area a voice in Parliament.
MPs spend some of their time in the Chamber of the
House of Commons listening to arguments in favour
of and against new ideas. Together they have to make
big decisions that affect us all. Sometimes they all
agree on an idea. Sometimes they need to vote too.
When MPs vote in the House of Commons it is called
a division.
Sometimes an election
is decided by just a
few votes and all the
papers have to be
counted again to make
sure it’s fair. So taking
part and voting is really
important.
Take it further
•H
old mock elections in your
class and use voting as a
way of making decisions on
a regular basis.
• Ask the children how they
would feel if their idea/team
didn’t win a vote and talk
about respecting different
points of view and fairness.
• Invite your local MP to visit
your class to talk about
their job.
• Find out about Emily
Wilding Davison, a famous
suffragette, who argued for
women’s right to vote.
www.parliament.uk/education
In what ways
do you vote for
things at school?
Votes are marked
with a cross on a
ballot paper.
www.parliament.uk/education
Image bank
Votes are
posted into
a ballot box.
People go to
a polling station
to vote.
www.parliament.uk/education