why same children given leading role every year

[ROSY2016]

hi all,
why same children given leading role every year. how do school choses the role for each children. Is it teachers choice ?

[PlinkPlonkPlunk]

Maybe they're good at acting, confident, and can be relied on to do well. DH is a teacher, and they choose the children based on those criteria. They'll try to encourage the less confident ones to take on roles as well, but ultimately it can be a fairly stressful event the teachers, and you don't want Mary to suddenly get stage fright with 10 minutes to go.

[Tanaqui]

Ime, in a one class play teacher will ask children who wants a speaking part/ dancing part/ singing part and then allocate, bearing in mind how many lines to learn, how audible the child is, and yes, I guess how reliable. 2 or more classes together, juniors will probably have some kind of audition/sign up process; infants will allocate, probably based on child's confidence and volume.

Unless it's a small school and the teacher remembers, probably no one knows who had the main parts last year, let alone the year before! Especially as chdn may say "xxx was Mary"- that could be starring role Mary, or brief tableaux in a final Carol Mary; I've never known a school keep a master list!

[ROSY2016]

But I don't agree with can rely on confident child.In this year my child school nativity,the host was upset and in tears then teacher has to read her part.it is a small village school and everyone remember who was in the leading roll last year.They don't consider children's ability.

[bloodymaria]

I don't think anyone here can speak on behalf of your school OP but at ours the kids are chosen for their suitability to the part - reading ability, confidence etc.

[AppleAndBlackberry]

My children's school auditions them from year 2 upwards and the biggest part will go to the most confident speakers. They also try to have a good number of smaller speaking parts so that most children who would like one will get one.

[MrsGsnow18]

I think most schools take into consideration who they think would have confidence/ability to remember lines etc but also ask the children what type of part they would like (speaking,non speaking etc.)
I can see how in a smaller school it may then end up being the same children, which might not seem fair but there might be reasons.
However if you have a child that had volunteered or espressed interest in a speaking part and they have confidence/are a capable reader then it would seem unusual that they would be overlooked more than one year in a row.

[user789653241]

Even the most confident child may get upset/nervous on stage, I think.

[mouldycheesefan]

Here the children say which roles they want and teachers try to accommodate even if means ten shepherds and 2 kings. If more than one child wants the main role they try to give it to a quieter one who needs a confident boost. Other years they have chosen ones good at learning lines who can be relied upon to deliver on the night.
Often teachers don't know who had the main role last year, dds teacher this year makes sure she knows who does what last year e. g dd wasn't a reader at the carol service as she did it last year.
Depends on teacher.
If your child is keen in a main role they need to speak up and tell the teacher. Last year main role was given to a child that lacks confidence she then dropped out and my dd volunteered to learn the lines last minute as she is an attention seeker who loves the main role. Hey ho!

[HorseyHorseyTwat]

Ah ffs...

Not every child can be good at everything! The confident, well-spoken child who always gets the "big" parts may lose every race on sports day, or come bottom in every spelling test or maths quiz. Just because some children don't get to shine on stage, doesn't mean they won't elsewhere.

[Beewhisperer]

You'd be amazed at how many of the children who you think would want a main part shy away from the idea and want to be animals when asked. It can be really hard to fill the bigger roles.
In my school:
Reception: main, non speaking roles inc Mary and Joseph.
Year1: main speaking parts or parts that need them to remember a cue e.g head shepherd. Maybe some narrators.
Year2: narrators and any part that is left over.
We hope that by following these guidelines every year everyone gets to do something that they really want to do. However it is tricky to remember who did what 2 years ago. I love it when a more timid child takes a lead role and really comes out of themselves.

In my experience parents are much more bothered about roles than their children.

One year I had a mum screaching at me because xchild had 15 words and her child only had 12. Sje wanted me to rearrange the whole nativity so that her child had more words.
When I refused she reported me to the Head and then to the chair of governors.

We do try our best to be fair.

[user789653241]

What I meant is that it's a bit mean to think the child doesn't deserves to be main cast just because she/he got upset this time. She/he must have done well if you remember she/he got the main role 2 years in a row.

[Flumplet]

5yo ds is 'narrator #6' in this years nativity. He has exactly the same line as he had last year.

[BertrandRussell]

According to Mumsnet the main roles always go to the children of teachers, governors and active members of the PTA.

In real life the main roles tend to go to the children who want them/would be happy doing them.

[Yoarchie]

Prob as teacher confident they won't fluff it

[Pud2]

This old chestnut!

[ROSY2016]

I agree with bertandrussell .my child said she wanted dancing part but teacher didn't asked them and it was teacher's choice.At key stage 1 they don't have any other opportunity to show their talents,specially they don't do any other outside school activities like drama club,dancing or singing.

[PebbleInTheMoonlight]

op I get where you're coming from. I'm honestly fed up of seeing the same two girls over and over and over again as leads in every show. There are at least 6 other children just as capable, enthusiastic, audible and talented but nepotism is rife and they are always chosen (one has a very famous acting relative and the other has a parent of significant influence in the LEA). It's tedious but it happens. This year their parents were upset not to be sat at the front and had the audacity to ask me to move so they could see their darlings better!

I said no

[thatdearoctopus]

"Nepotism is rife"

Oh, DFOD! This bollocks is trotted out all the time. If those children have been selected, it will be because they happen to have talent - which would not be all that surprising if acting runs in the family.

[ROSY2016]

Well done pebbleinthemoonlight. Same thing happening in my child's school. One of the parent was volunteering and she is doing a course to be a teacher in the school.Her daughter doing a lot of outside school activities like dancing,drama etc etc.Her child always chosen in class assembly or what ever play for leading role.She always proudly asked other parents what their children' s roles. I don't agree always same child gets leading role each time
It's bit funny ,saying teachers don't remember who did main role last year or two years ago.

[HorseyHorseyTwat]

There's a child on my DD's school who has two well-known actor parents. He was still a non-speaking shepherd.

[user789653241]

"Her daughter doing a lot of outside school activities like dancing,drama etc etc" means she is confident and reliable, maybe?

If you want your dd to be chosen, you can do the same, if you think the reason behind it is true, like volunteer at school, let her take lots of classes maybe?

[ROSY2016]

Horseyhorseytwat ,May be your school doing fair policy.

[mrz]

The camels seems to be covered role in our last two productions

[spanieleyes]

Obviously every teacher has a list.
The child of the chair of the PTFA is always Mary ( which was tough the year the chair only had a boy but hey, why spoil a good story!) and the child of the chair of governors is always Joseph ( this year he happens to be 24 years old but I'm sure he will blend in well)

Or perhaps we just chose those who want to take part, are pretty reliable at turning up for the evening performances, will learn their lines and not pull their pants down on stage ( yes, I mean you, third shepherd from the right!)

[Ginmummy1]

My DD (Y1) explained to me that the teacher talked to the children about all the parts and how much each of them said etc, and then children expressed interest. Mary was drawn out of a hat from those interested etc.

That is all very 'fair' and has the advantage that the ones that don't want to speak don't have to, but there were one or two children with big parts that weren't quite up to the job, and the occasional wonderfully clear voice speaking a minor part.

The play would have been much 'better' had the most able children been given the bigger roles. The question is: what is the purpose of the play?