ELECTION ELATION!

There is always a special kind of excitement around school when the school year starts and our pupils think about becoming a candidate for the new class president. This is what 'election elation' means:). Not to make a lot of guesses as to why presidential election in a primary school would matter at all, we went to our school counsellor, Ms Đurić, and we asked her about it. Here is what she had to say about election time at Bright Horizons!

1. Why is it important to hold presidential elections at school?

   
   

I believe it's important to hold president elections in schools because this way we are teaching the kids and exposing the kids to the real-life experience of what it means to vote and how it will actually look when they turn 18. We're teaching them how to candidate themselves, we're teaching them how to market themselves, promote themselves for those who are candidating. Also for those who are not, we are teaching them the importance of what their vote means and how it can change their whole school year depending on who they choose to be their president and vice president. Also throughout the process, we try to give them the real-life experience of what it looks like when they get their voting ballot, that they have their right to privacy about who they voted for, and just in general how every vote counts and that their voices can be heard and that this is a decision that is solely up to them.

2. What is the procedure like at Bright Horizons? What must candidates do to earn the trust of their class?

   
   

At Bright Horizons, we inform all the classes that we're going to be opening again the opportunity for everyone to candidate themselves to be their class president or vice president. We explain to the class what the role of the vice president and president means and what are their kind of tasks that they'll be doing during the school year and what's expected of them. After that, they have about a week and a half time to bring in their posters. These posters go up in our main hall at school and we have the posters posted up for about a whole week so that all the children can come and take a look at who this year's presidents and vice president candidates are. After that, the classes come individually to where the posters are and the candidates get to have a speech for their class. While they're saying their speech, they are pretty much saying why the class should be choosing them and why they would be the perfect president or vice president for their class. After that, a couple days later, we organize the election day. Each class is brought again to where the posters are hanging and we have two seating sections. Each child will get their voting ballot. On the voting ballot are the names of all the candidates from their class and they are instructed to put an X beside the name of the person they would like to vote for and then they have to fold up the ballot and put it in the voting box. After that, the school counselor takes all the votes, tallies it up, and informs the children by the end of the day who their class president and vice president is.

3. What are the tasks of the president and vice president?

The vice president has a role of supporting and helping the class president and also, of course, in the absence of the class president, the vice president is the one to take over the role. The tasks mainly, I would say, is just to be the voice of the class. So we have regular meetings with our student council and this is an opportunity for them to come to and talk to the school senior leadership team about any topics or things that they think could be better at school, things that they feel are being done great at school, any ideas for projects, for events, for charity work. So anything really that they feel their class would like to bring up is then brought to the senior leadership team by the class president and vice president. Also, these are children who are role models for their class, which means that they follow school rules, are academically doing very well, who are our friends, making sure that no bullying is going on, and, of course, making sure that all of their classmates are really doing their best and following school rules as well.

4. Are there any perks to this huge responsibility? Is there a plan for some special activities, trips or meetings with the class presidents or vice presidents?

I think one of the main things that children get when they are vice president or elected to be vice president and president is the fact that they feel this big responsibility to their class. Throughout my years of doing student council with the kids, I've really seen that they take a huge, huge role and they find it very important for them to make sure that the class's voice is heard and also that the children know that this is their educational journey and that some of their ideas, of course, will always be accepted if appropriate. We do have trips and special events planned for our student council. So primarily student council also helps with all the school events, especially if we have guests coming in, so parents, friends, and others. They're usually the ones helping with organization and planning of these events. Also, we do take them to trips, so we take them to the Croatian parliament buildings. And if we get a chance, also we get to go into the amazing offices where our ministers work and where they have all their meetings. Also, we will be doing some workshops with the Croatian Red Cross. We'll be learning about first aid and about different world climate changes that are happening and what we as a school and them as kids can do to help make the world a better place.

5. Have you ever been a class president? What values do you think make a great class president?

   
   

I personally have never been a class president or vice president. I was always too shy for this, but one of the main values I feel that a class president needs to have is to be a good listener. He/she is the representative of his class, so he needs to be able to listen to their worries, to listen to what they have to say in a positive connotation, and listen to maybe some of their ideas. And as well, I think it's important that they're patient and that they're flexible and understanding because they are there to work as a team with their class and make their class have the best school year that they've ever had. And the only way they can do that is really if they're team players and if there's respect and if they really value one another.

6. What would be your personal message to anyone wishing to lead their class?

I would just like everyone to know that anyone can be a leader and that every one of us possesses something special about us, that you should just believe in yourself and give yourself that chance because you never really know what you can bring to the table if you don't give yourself that chance. So we need a little bit of courage and a little bit of braveness and I would love to see new faces in the Student Council to really see what everyone can bring and what Student Council can really achieve from year to year.

Thank you, Ms Đurić, for taking the time out of our packed calendar to talk to us about this. And now - here is our Class Council for 2025-2026! May they rule the school well!