The race for head girl has well and truly begun at St. Philomena’s Catholic High School. Complete with promising campaigns, posters and even some suspected bribery (in the form of confectionary), the politics were comparable to that of the US election.

As a chance for Year 12s to take the reigns and prove they have what it takes to reform the school, the annual election for deputy and head girl is always a tremendous occasion. Younger years are flooded with propositions of no homework, pizza every day and talent shows- as empty as these promises may be. But of course, it would be immoral not to vote for your friend’s sister’s friend!

This year, the candidates for both deputy and head girl were extremely well driven. Despite the recent ban on extravagant campaign tactics such as stickers, the girls made their voices heard through informative posters and word of mouth. For the whole week before the big day, the question on every girl’s lips was, “Who are you voting for?” (In a St. Phil’s election, all terms of privacy are thrown out of the window.)

The 16th of January was the day when students and teachers got to exercise their right to vote, whether it was fuelled by true support or the lollipop given to you by that one with the brown hair. The red room was bursting with brown uniformed girls from the beginning of lunch until the very end, and campaign tactics were becoming increasingly far-fetched as time went on. I even heard one girl shouting “Vote for my friend if you like The Bee Movie”, which was definitely an interesting but possibly effective method.

The next stage is the all-important interviews with the headteacher and a panel of experts. Three candidates for head girl were chosen, as well as three for each of the two deputy positions. Emily Carroll, Year 8, said "I'm really happy that the one I voted for got an interview, but as long as the head girl does something about the canteen queues I don't really mind who they are." It will certainly be a tough competition, with each girl offering new and exciting ideas for the future of the school!

Caitlin Charles, St. Philomena's High School