Friday, 09 February 2018 09:37

Barnet girls celebrate votes for women

Written by Nick Jones
Pupils at QE Girls’ School joined (from left to right) Chloe Smith, Minister for the Constitution; Theresa Villiers, MP for Chipping Barnet; and Violet Walker, headteacher, QE Girls’ School Pupils at QE Girls’ School joined (from left to right) Chloe Smith, Minister for the Constitution; Theresa Villiers, MP for Chipping Barnet; and Violet Walker, headteacher, QE Girls’ School
Queen Elizabeth’s Girls’ School, Barnet, played its part in the celebrations to mark the 100th anniversary of the 1918 Representation of People Act giving women the right to vote.

In recognition of its success in becoming the country’s highest achieving whollynon-selective all-girls state school, QE Girls was chosen to host a government announcement to recruit youth democracy ambassadors.

School pupils will have the chance to apply to become democracy ambassadors when the scheme opens later this year.

Their role will be to engage with under-represented groups and help to ensure every member of society has an equal chance to participate in the democratic process.

Chloe Smith, minister for the constitution, made the announcement after 15 girls – aged from 12 to 16 – gave presentations on what they had learned at school about democracy, citizenship and the electoral system.

They then took part in a question and answer session with Ms Smith and the Chipping Barnet MP, Theresa Villiers.

Ms Smith said it had been a fantastic opportunity to speak to the school and hear what pupils were doing to help celebrate such an important milestone for women.

Violet Walker, QE Girls’ headteacher, said the honour of being chosen to host the announcement was a tribute to the school’s achievement in raising standards.

“Government recognition of this kind is a real boost, not only for what we teachthe girls about the importance of women getting the vote, but also about the tradition of QE as wholly non-selective school.

Our girls demonstrated a love of learning and we were proud to hear their ideasfor increasing democratic engagement among young people “Chloe Smith’s visit to mark the suffrage centenary was also a real curtain raiserfor our own celebrations.

“QE Girls’ was founded in 1888 and we are holding a fete in June to mark out 130th anniversary,” said Mrs Walker.Caption: Pupils at Queen Elizabeth’s Girls’ School helped celebrate a government initiative to mark the 100th anniversary of women gaining the vote.

1 comment

  • Comment Link Saturday, 10 February 2018 08:30 posted by Mark

    Remember it was only some women allowed the vote in 1918 so there should be more celebrations in 2028 to mark the centenary of all women over 21 having the vote.

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