AS the South today woke up to the result of how the country voted in the EU referendum schoolchildren in Hampshire made their feelings clear as mock-counts were staged in the county.

As the real polls closed last night the outcome was still too close to call as millions of people went to the polling stations to have their say on whether or not Britain should remain part of the European Union.

A higher turnout than seen during general elections was being reported around the south as counts were held through the night at council offices before results were fed into regional centres and ultimately the national result, which was expected this morning.

But as their future was being decided by older generations, pupils also got the chance to experience a referendum as schools across the county put up polling booths in a series of mock votes.

For many it was the culmination of weeks of special assemblies and debates in the run-up to the big vote which gave children a chance to understand both sides of the argument.

As predicted by the pollsters, most of the young people voted in favour of staying in , with mock ballots held in schools returning overwhelming majorities to stay in.

Among those who held their own EU referendum was Woodlands Community College in Harefield where more than 350 11 to 15-year-olds voted, with the majority voting to stay in.

In all 236 voted to stay in (65 per cent) and 121 (33 per cent) opting to leave. There were eight spoilt ballots (two per cent).

The school said they tried to make it as authentic as possible for the students who will not be getting a say in the real referendum as they are under 18.

Vote organiser and assistant headteacher Nicola Iverson said: “As a school we wanted to promote British values and one of our values is the right to vote. We think it’s important to talk about it. The impact of the referendum on them is massive.”

Meanwhile more than 500 year seven to year 10 students at Oasis Academy Mayfield also voted in a mock referendum, the results of which will be revealed today.

Michele Mcilveen from the school said: “We have given them the chance to discuss it in the weeks leading up to the referendum. We tried to give them an experience of democracy and they know that whatever happens in the real ballot is going to affect them in the long term.”

But the youngest voters were children at Highfield Church of England Primary School.

Campaigns for Britain to leave and to remain in the EU were led by two teams of eight 10 and 11-year-olds who took part in debates and hustings in the weeks leading up to the vote. Then, 215 primary school children had a vote with 84 per cent voting to stay in the EU and 16 per cent voting to leave.

Headteacher Allan King said: “When talking to the children they wanted to be involve in something as important as this because it affects their futures. As part of the process the children have learnt an awful lot about democracy.”

Highfield Church also held a mock referendum which saw balloted 99 parishioners - 68 of who voted to remain and 26 who voted to leave. There were five spoilt ballots.