Parents Vote for Year 12 Uniform, Students vote for General Elections

It was a great week for the democratic process at Freyberg, as parents contributed their thoughts about whether Year 12s should be in Uniform in 2012, and students voted for the general election in an authentic Kids Vote election experience.

Survey finds most want minor change to Year 12 Mufti

A recent internal review showed that staff felt there should be an improvement in the standard of Year 12 mufti. Hundreds of parents responded to a survey giving the school a good idea about how the community felt about Year 12 students in mufti.

The survey found that making boys wear shirts with collars was unpopular, as was banning hoodies. However most respondents (particularly parents and staff) did want to change the current system. As a result school management has decided to do the following:

Mufti at Year 12 is allowed but without singlets, jandals, ripped clothing, hats, or facial piercings.
Hoodies are allowed with the hood worn down.
For boys, collared shirts are not required (t-shirts are acceptable).
For girls, revealing clothing is not allowed.

Get more details in the Changes to Year 12 Mufti (PDF) email. Or read our updated Uniform web page.

Already the new requirements have been met with positive reviews. One parent wrote: "I am so impressed that it [the survey] was conducted and the results were so quick and inclusive. I am also very happy with the results - sensible and fair."

Results of the Year 9 and 10 Kids Vote Elections

Kids Vote, allows students to learn about political parties, and vote in a realistic voting environment with authentic looking voting papers. A carefully chosen class was given the job of counting votes today, with organising teacher Mabel Msopero looking forward to comparing them with the national results.

When given the adult task of voting, many students initially joked about supporting the Cannabis party. As the process of exploring each party's policies progressed, more mainstream parties were adopted as favourites. At the time of writing, the several hundred student votes lead to a close two horse race. Time will tell if the national general election is the same.

Flickr Slideshow of Vote Counting

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