Village Gala Day Drama

Same Anxiously and I grew up in one.

That said it can be quite cute. When I got married there after moving away the whole village turned out and the streets were lined with crowds. I was basically a royal. My Dh and our London friends were blown away by it!

My parents very community minded and there’s really not much to do in the village on a Saturday afternoon and I had a horse and cart.

I am SO grateful that I do not live in this village. I cannot express how much, fully in words. So glad.

You have absolutely no idea what any of us give to our communities. And your quite wrong

My guess would be she's seen this thread if you've received that message. If the system changed this year, it would be obvious it was at the Grandmother's request and the options being suggested here offer less chance of her Granddaughter getting the Queen role, since she wanted it based on merit, not random selection.
I would reply, saying she's right and it's probably easier to stick to the current system. Ignore the message about highland dancing.

The only other option I'd suggest if it needed to be opened up to all kids is for nominations. A bit like a "pride of britain" ... people need to be nominated and given a reason as to why - then the panel vote. That way, ability doesn't come into it, school doesn't come into it.

I'd say you need to keep it as it is - the village school kids only. Its a tradition for the village and there is only 1 school in the village, if you choose to send your kids to another school then tough. Traditions are old and if you're keeping the tradition of the Gala - then there's your answer. You either totally change the Gala and bring it into modern day - ie don't have Queens etc or you keep as is.

Let's face it the only person who really wants to change it has a granddaughter at another school 😂

which would be fine if it was a 'school gala' but it's not, it's a 'village gala' therefore every child living in the village deserves the chance to take part.

The current system of rewarding behaviour, attainment, etc, sucks tbf.

It's got nothing to do with civic or community spirit or leadership abilities and it has no tie-in to the wider community because of that, and also because the pool of candidates is restricted to the one school.

YANBU, not one bit.

I disagree with your essay writing idea though. Excelling at something is really ableist, and something like that is usually heavily dependent on parent resources (time and money) too.

How about choosing nominees who start, volunteer in, or lead some civic spirited endeavour? A food drive for some local food bank, a litter picking event or two, a tidy school playground campaign, a poster campaign for road safety awareness, organising a community flower garden, etc?

The selection process to do that as descirbed by teh OP currently results in the children of the sharp elbowed and the compliant girls being prioritised.

I'd much rather see a general ballot which gives all the children an equal chance as a bit of responsibility for a badly behaved child can be transformative for them and for a child with special needs it adds visibility and may even demonstrate how you adjust something for access.

There will be no need for the "good" children to be disappointed as they all had an equal chance.

My tuppence worth of a suggestion is this:
Open it to all kids living in village in that year in any school; kids in village school don't need to apply but others apply themselves by date with application that can include an essay/artwork/colouring of their choice.
If no applications then current system remains.
If there are applications from non village schools then a panel is formed with e.g. publican, minister and local head teacher who decide the five roles, with minimum of four roles to local school- and one role open to any of the kids- so fifth one could stay with local school or go to kid from other school.

Makes me glad I stuck to by guns and didn’t cave to DH’s wish to move to a village. Whether the committee likes it or not, names in a hat of all children living in village is only fair way. Otherwise you’ll have bias.

To exclude those who go to other schools, for whatever reason, isn’t fair. They’re twelve year old children! Our friends live in a similar sounding village. Their local school couldn’t meet the complex medical needs of their DC and they had no choice but to “opt out” of local school and attend a larger school that could meet needs. It’s heart breaking for them to watch their child being left out.

A ballot is throwing the baby out with the bathwater IMO. It isn't a bad idea at all to reward young residents for their role in upholding the social fabric. I don't think this should have anything to do with school.

For me i would ask interested parties to enter into a ballot. Then draw the names there is nothing fairer no essays no local school just do a draw

Why not make it anonymous? Any child in the village can be nominated with a reason why they should be queen etc (and I mean anything, academic excellence, sporting achievement, community spirited, kindness, triumph against adversity, eco campaigner, kind to wildlife, charity fundraising) then the ones that fit the bill go into a hat, or the committee could chose from those nominated, but without seeing the names of the kids (apologies to anyone whose already suggested this but I’m not reading through 11 pages)

Make it somebody else's problem: panel agrees which schools to select from (every school children in village go to, presumably), ask headteachers of such schools to pick a child based on their own criteria, and have as many roles as there are schools.

I'd make it as simple as possible for the teacher to do - literally just a couple of boxes to tick with stamped, addressed envelope supplied by child so they just have to shove it in the envelope and add it to the school's outgoing post. And just the option to write more if they want to e.g. they may know that for x reason the child could really do with this recognition.

It sounds like by and large it's only going to be one or two children from any school so shouldn't be lots of forms for any teacher to complete.

The most inclusive way is just names in a hat - anyone can enter who lives in village regardless of what school they go to.
in my town all state primary schools, catholic school and first year of the secondary school, SEN school all included and it’s then names in a hat.
you are really over complicating it with suggestions re essays, art competitions, character references etc.

This was why committee meeti gs on Zoom are brilliant... you can sit with a mug of wine and no one knows....

Names in a hat…then ALL the children get an equal chance. Clever children get enough rewards!

I think tbh that teachers shouldn't be asked to do that extra work...

No wonder very few people volunteer in their community eh, @Bronniel

You have been given a really hard time here, when your intentions to support your community are admirable.

Good on you ( and not those on here, who give nothing, but argue the toss).