Delivering the take part strand | Primary school

Key topics

• Why voting matters.
• Representation and who can vote.
• Political parties, candidates, manifestos and election campaigns.
• How voting and elections work.

Why the Take part strand matters in primary schools

This strand brings democracy to life and puts the Understand strand into practice - providing opportunities to learn about and experience voting and participation.

From voting on a class book in KS1 to exploring campaigns and elections in KS2, this strand is about giving primary learners real ownership over decision-making and opportunities to vote on real decisions, whilst making links to taking part in elections in the future.

Allowing learners to vote and decide on classroom issues helps to build familiarity with voting, and demonstrates that voting has consequences. When learners see the outcome of their votes in their classroom they can better understand the importance of voting, and of making up their own minds about issues they care about.

Experiencing a secret ballot provides a structured environment for learners to practice autonomy and discover that their voice matters, helping them resist peer pressure and build early confidence. This also reinforces PSHE concepts like fairness, privacy, and personal identity.

A key objective is demystifying adult processes like voter registration, polling stations, and voter ID. It’s great to build early awareness of elections and how voting works, but it’s important to keep learners engaged by grounding learning in meaningful, age-appropriate issues.

My approach

When getting learners to take part in elections and voting, the most crucial aspect is to ensure everyone can participate.

Here is my approach:

• Introduce voting in a physical and safe manner, using ‘heads down, thumbs up’ to establish privacy and using jars with cubes or marbles to show votes add up in real time. Using the correct labelling (ballot box) is a stress-free way to establish the shared language of democracy.
• Let learners do elections, not just read or hear about them, by using real-world polling stations. This can be a great way to give school council elections a feeling of real importance. Create voting booths with dividers, print authentic ballot papers, appoint ‘poll clerks’ and use reading records or library cards as Voter ID. If you can invite governors or local councillors, it adds even more prestige.
• Have learners form political parties based on shared opinions when exploring school issues they genuinely care about. Write simple manifestos and create campaign posters. This can help support oracy by giving learners the chance to explore issues in an environment where others agree, before moving to debates where they will face differing opinions.
• Connect voting to oracy through low-stakes discussion, speeches and debates. This doesn’t have to be overly elaborate. Sometimes, the best discussions happen in a partner talk environment.
• Reflect on the impact of classroom voting and discuss how learners feel about them. This encourages primary age learners to understand that they will not get their preferred choice every time, and helps them navigate living in a world where not everything will work how they want it to.
• Take advantage of local and national elections when they happen. Track the events using Newsround and First News and discuss the issues impartially.

The most important aspect of this strand is helping learners realise that taking part is a fundamental aspect of democratic life. If you can’t do anything else, give learners the chance to vote using a physical ballot box and voting booth so they can experience the privacy, responsibility and power of voting firsthand.

If you can only do one thing…

Run a completely authentic class vote with a ballot box, voting booths with dividers, and 'voter ID' (like a reading record).

Where this fits into the curriculum

• PSHE and EYFS (PSED) - Explore fairness, privacy, and decision-making in EYFS. Build into KS1/KS2 PSHE to address peer pressure and emotional responses to winning/losing.
• Oracy and P4C - Use Philosophy for learner (P4C) to establish a ‘community of enquiry,’ teaching learners how to form independent opinions before debating.
• English - Draft mini-manifestos, campaign speeches, and persuasive letters for real-world school audiences.
• Art & Design / Computing - Create rosettes, campaign posters, voting booth signs, and digital ballot papers.
• Maths - Connect voting to statistics and data handling by counting ballots, tallying results, and creating graphs or charts to display outcomes.

Key resources

However much curriculum time you have, make sure to check out the Electoral Commission’s Welcome To Your Vote Week. This is a yearly event, usually in March, where young people are encouraged to learn about and get involved in democracy and voting. It is a good focus point in the year to spotlight learning about voting and elections, and the Electoral Commission will share a range of learning resources and activities you can use.

If you have 30 minutes or less…

• Born with a voice, heard through democracy - a video from I Have a Voice, The Electoral Commission - Watch this video to explore why it is important for learners to vote.
• After showing the video, hold a quick class vote on a real class decision. Use ballot papers and a ballot box if you can, to give learners a sense of how an election works.

1 hour… 

• The Big Democracy Lesson KS1, Young Citizens - Use this lesson to introduce KS1 learners to voting and elections.
• My first vote - Navigating mis and disinformation: 1 hour lesson, The Electoral Commission and Shout Out UK - Deliver this lesson to introduce KS2 learners to voting and how misinformation and disinformation can impact voting. Learners complete interactive activities to develop critical thinking and understand democratic representation.
• Find out about Parliament voting booklet, UK Parliament - Use this helpful guidance to introduce voting to your learners and run a class vote.

1-3 hours… 

• Votes at 16, VotesForSchools - Introduce learners to the debate about schools’ role in preparing young people to vote, and then hold your own debate about it.
• Preparing to Vote: Assembly for KS1 and KS2, VotesForSchools - Explore how the UK’s voting system works and then ask learners to create an information campaign about how to vote.

4-6 hours…

• A guide to setting up and running an effective school council, VotesForSchools - Use this toolkit to help set up a school council and run an election, building in experiential elements. This same structure can be used for any class or school vote on a real issue or decision affecting the school, not just for electing school council representatives.
• Have a simple form that learners need to fill out to register to vote. Create ballots and ballot boxes that learners fill in. Require a form of ID (even if it's a picture learners draw of themselves). Finally, create mock ballot booths. You could also give learners roles within this process. Have learners check ID’s, and cross off who has voted, learners could act as poll workers.  After the election share statistics: what was the voter turn out? How many learners were not able to vote because they didn’t register or didn’t have their ID? Finally, lead a reflection on the election, questions could include: What motivated you to vote? If you didn’t vote, why not? How did you find the process of the election?

6 hours plus… 

• Use the structure above to run a class or school election on a real issue affecting the school, building in additional time for learners to discuss and debate the topic before voting and develop campaigns to support their choice.

Considerations for learners with additional needs

• Make it visual: For ballot papers and other materials, include photographs of candidates, symbols like Widgit and colour-coded options to enable those learners with speech, language and communication needs to access the same democratic choices independently. Providing these scaffolds ensures that learners get true democratic agency, guaranteeing a child’s right to choose doesn’t depend on their reading level.
• Offer alternative ways to participate: To allow access to campaigning and ‘taking part’ for all, ensure that there are multiple ways of presenting a campaign such as posters, letters, using short videos instead of live speeches. This can remove the pressure of public speaking and protect learners who could otherwise feel exposed, creating safe participation.