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May 2010 - News Stories | |
The real General Election!Picture: SLNP election results The battle for the keys to 10 Downing Street isn’t the only important political contest that's been taking place! As Messer’s Brown, Cameron and Clegg nervously awaited the results of the national vote, pupils at St Leonards-New Park took part in their very own keenly fought General Election. Children in all year groups rushed to their polling station to cast their votes for the five youthful candidates - Alexander Innes (Labour), James Fleming (Conservatives), Lucy Jackson (Green), Nicholas Vinogradov-Wouters (SNP) and Alex Vinogradov-Wouters (Liberal Democrats) – standing for election to the self styled “651st constituency”. After a day of excitement at the ballot box, the returning officer, Year 5 teacher Kathleen McKimmon, announced to an expectant crowd that James Fleming had sealed victory for the Conservatives. Andrew Donald, Headmaster at St Leonards-New Park, said, “The children really enjoyed taking part. “We had a week of campaigning and canvassing by the candidates who, along with their fellow students, produced leaflets, rosettes and posters. “Today’s voting really brought the whole school together with the Year 7s running the polling station and keeping the younger ones right in terms of democratic procedure! “The idea was to show the pupils the process of voting and to replicate what the grown ups do on General Election day.” Senior students at St Leonards also held an election, an overnight count ensuring a nervous wait for the six participating political parties before Monster Raving Loony candidates Harry Turner and Lemar Moller were declared the winners. Picture: SLNP election candidates The candidates standing in the St Leonards-New Park General Election. Picture: Senior School election Monster Raving Loonys? St Leonards Techno Challenge 2010Picture: Techno Challenge There was fun and intellectual games when St Leonards School hosted its 14th annual Techno Challenge. Primary 7 pupils from 21 schools from across Fife and beyond took part in a series of science, maths, ICT and literary tasks aimed at encouraging team work and demonstrating how learning can be fun. Competing in teams of four, the children built model giraffes out of paper, constructed and raced balloon powered buggies, completed maths puzzles, created detailed birthday invitations using advanced computer software and took part in a series of library based quizzes. A frantic finale saw the youngsters race to gain further points in a quick fire ‘Maths Relay’. “The whole objective of the day was for the children to have fun whilst they were learning,” said Andrew Lang, Head of the Senior School at St Leonards. “There was a nice variety of challenging activities for them to take part in and it was fantastic to see all the pupils having a great time. “It’s a very popular event and it’s great to be able to welcome along so many local schools.” The winner of the small schools’ category was Fettes with St Leonards-New Park taking the runners up spot. George Heriot’s School in Edinburgh won the large schools’ section and the runner-up was Leuchars. Gary Cockburn, teacher of the victorious George Heriot’s team, said, “We are thrilled. The children had a fantastic day and every year we come back the event just seems to get even better.” Picture: SLNP at Techno Challenge The St Leonards-New Park team in action Picture: Maths Relay The Maths Relay in full flow | |