Students Make Their Mark
11th October 2018
Melbourn Village College has taken part in the annual Make Your Mark ballot, the largest consultation of young people in the country.
In a national ballot running from 22nd August -10th October, young people across the country were what issues matter most to them, to determine what is debated by the UK Youth Parliament in the House of Commons on 9th November. Voting took place through ballot papers that were issued to Years 8, 10 and 11 at Melbourn.
Ten topics were available to choose from on the initial Make Your Mark ballot paper and the five most popular topics among young people will go on to be discussed by MYPs in their November debate, chaired by the Speaker of the House of Commons Rt. Hon. John Bercow MP and broadcast live on Parliament TV.
‘Let’s Tackle Homelessness’ topped the Melbourn poll, followed by ‘End Period Poverty’, ‘Put an End to Knife Crime’ and ‘Mental Health’. ‘Equal Pay for Equal Work’ trailed in fifth.
Marta Gunner, Head of Humanities at Melbourn, said: “It is a fantastic opportunity for the students to have a taste of what it means to vote and allow their voice on issues that are important to them to be heard.
“This also allows us as a school to identify what concerns our students and to find ways to address these within our subject areas wherever possible. We look forward to reviewing the results before the debate on the 9th of November.”
Last year’s Make Your Mark ballot saw responses from over 950,000 young people, making it the largest youth consultation of its kind in the UK. This year, Members of Youth Parliament set themselves a target of getting 1,000,000 young people to take part, although by 8.30 on the morning of the final day for voting, only four Cambridgeshire schools had submitted their results.
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