ELECTION fever swept a Stretford school recently as pupils got their first taste of politics.

St Matthew's C of E Primary School, in Poplar Road, recently decided to take a vote on changing the name of one of the school's house teams from ‘Ghandi House’ to ‘Malala House’.

Inspired by the tale of Malala Yousafzai, a Pakistani activist who survived an attempted assassination by the Taliban, eleven year olds at the school took the initiative to hold a referendum.

In order to vote, parents and pupils had to register on the ‘electoral roll’ and the vote was taken on Friday January 22, using a genuine voting booth and ballot box borrowed from the Elections Office at Trafford Council.

The result – to change the house team name to ‘Malala House’ – was announced on Monday January 25.

Tom Johnson, headteacher of St. Matthew’s C of E Primary, said: “I am so proud of our children. Rather than just make a decision like this themselves, they decided to involve everybody. This initiative has come from them, and it says so much about how responsible they are.”

Councillor Tom Ross was on hand to make sure that the election was fairly conducted.

Stretford and Urmston MP Kate Green was ‘thrilled’ by the idea.

“It is never too early to start a discussion about democracy, and this is a great way to start,” she said.