Leaving primary - no celebration

[Lailalily]

It was talking with another mum and it make me think about our children finishing primary school.

They worked so hard all these years and grow up together, making lovely friendships and memories. For many of them they been together since Reception and now they are all going separate ways for secondary school.

I feel a little sad that our school do not really do a big celebration for them. They have hoodies and do a play. It is such an important moment in their lives and I think they deserve a nice ending to their primary education after all their hard work.

Please let me know what your schools do? Do they have leavers party, prom, disco, special trip or something else? Any ideas are welcome.

Maybe it is just me, but I feel they deserve something special to celebrate this milestone before they move on.

Fundraising starts at the end of year 5 and continues with bake sales guess the sweets in a jar competitions and so on

they get (paid by the funds)

• hoodies
• leavers disco
• an outing (sometimes a theme park, this year was a musical)
• leavers assembly
• main roles in the end of year play
• year books where everyone gets a page to write memories and there are photos from the past 7 years

Ours do leavers hoodies, a play, a bbq, leavers assembly/celebration award ceremony, leavers arch on their final day made up of parents/children all year groups and t-shirt signing on the last day.
To be honest I find it all abit much… The leavers hoodie and a bbq would be perfect for me.
Trying to source costumes for the play that they’ll never wear again, book time off work for the play, leavers assembly, leavers arch, make sure they have a white t-shirt and make sure someone is around to pick up from the bbq as they aren’t allowed to walk home unaccompanied (finishes at 8pm and a 10 minute walk away) all adds to the stress of the final few weeks when they are already doing residentials and transition days.
Our house is crazy at the moment as we also have other children doing activities weeks, school trips, choosing options parents evenings and new starter information evenings for those changing schools. I’ll be glad when it’s all over!

Its all too much. Hoodies,assemblies, disco's, trips, gifts, plays etc it's almost as if once they've done their SATs there's nothing for the y6 to do... If they have time to do all these rehearsals and trips away etc.

Just have a final assembly, present them with a book or something for secondary and be done with it.

I agree some schools make it a bit much.
But wrt plays and trips it can be because the school shifts the curriculum around so front loads with maths and English with things like Drama being pushed back then done in one go with a play.

This years school leavers at our primary school have house hoodies which they fundraised for the year before. They are also going bowling and out for a burger. They have had a camp too which is earlier in the year. On the very last day they have a leavers assembly where they will be played out by a piper. School council have also organised that every kid gets an icecream but that is for all years as are the inflatable they have as part of fun day.

If you would like more for your kid why not get involved with the parent council or offer to arrange it yourself. One of my friends at another school ordered cupcakes for the children leaving.

At our school the play is the whole of KS2 with year 6 traditionally taking the main parts. They’re still being taught the rest of the curriculum.

On occasion their residential falls in this half term but that’s dependent on the venue. This year it was in March.

We’ve had a party but it was on a Saturday night and completely organised by a group of parents. Some teachers came along but it’s not taken time away from learning.

We are having a disco but is completely ran by parents - although we can use school hall for it.

Oh I forgot that the school also does a wee leaving ceremony as part of their last assembly. Parents are invited and it was adorable - the younger kids write / sing songs for them and siblings can come. My daughter really appreciated it (though we had to leave before it was over for a dance show because every single thing happens in the same week in June - in Scotland). Total chaos in our house this month!

DD had an leavers’ assembly with certificates and gifts presented, with games/bouncy castle after.
Also a party but organised by parents not by the school, held off school grounds and after school hours. I think we must have purchased tickets to cover venue hire and a photo booth. I don’t remember food, it was probably just pizza.
They signed uniforms on the last day (shirts or sun hats).
She was lucky to be Year 6 in 2020. The 2021 kids missed out and didn’t get to do anything.

We had yearbooks every year, not specific to Year 6.

That was enough I thought! Most of the kids here all go onto the next school together. DD is Year 12 now and spent this past weekend with a group of friends which included two kids who were in her reception class. The school had a very high turnover of teachers so no particular relationships with teachers to acknowledge.

I don’t actually remember doing anything myself when I finished Year 6! I do know there was no trip, or play. I think it is likely that there was some kind of leavers’ assembly.

Who's paying for all of this nonsense? While things like hoodies, discos and special school trips sound great, the reality is that there are some parents who may only just (or not even that) be keeping their heads above water. Have you even seen the cost of coach hire for example?

And is it what the kids really want or what the parents want for the 'making memories' on their insta? My oldest couldn't wait to get out of their primary school and would have hated all the performance. They had been badly bullied for years and the last thing they wanted was to pretend to be best buddies and declare how much they were going to miss their tormentors

Some kids won’t want it, some kids will. My kid loves it but it won’t feature on my ‘insta’ regardless. Not everyone plasters school stuff on social media.

Hoody or t shirt
Party both arranged/paid for by parents.
Leavers service at church, leavers assembly.
(Before covid. )

In our primary, it was the PTA that organised a leavers party. I imagine the school is doing loads of other stuff, e.g talking about transition, an assembly, reflective approaches to th process. If you want a party, organise it

Ours have leavers hoodies and do a leavers assembly, which was so lovely. I ugly cried through the whole thing. It’s a small school, only about 12 per year so was really personal.

No party or disco. We took ours out into our nearest city for sushi to celebrate and she was thrilled with that.

And that is sensible re: hoody. Genuinely both my older DC have never had them on after last day of school.

Totally agree with @PyongyangKipperbang making it into a big emotional farewell is not helpful.

My school had a leavers assembly and that was it. I found the rehearsals mawkish and upsetting. It was all gloomy songs about how sad it is to be moving on. Someone played bright eyes on the recorder. It basically felt designed to make as many kids as possible cry. I did not attend the final of day, partly because I didn't want to be a part of the assembly dirge!

A play and optional hoodies honestly sounds perfect, that is a celebration and a memento, and it is special. Not everything needs to be an all-out extravaganza.

Both are good suggestions. Easy for parents to arrange a party. Who would pay for a day out - can all parents afford it to ensure it is inclusive?

We have
leavers hoody
year book
y6 play
leaving party (arranged by parents/pta)
Y6 leavers mass
whole school mass (to end the year and say good bye to y6)
picnic in the park on last day

Ours have

• a leavers play/assembly
• a evening music festival/party
• leavers hoodie

We pay a small contribution to the festival for food and bouncy castle etc.

At our school it absolutely is what the children want.
They’ve become traditions and the children look forward to them. Particularly the leavers party ( fully organised by parents) as the kids hear about it when they’re lower down in school so look forward to it.
The last day pizza and drinks which are provided by the pub opposite the school is legendary for the kids. The pub is packed with families from all year groups and the year 6’s jump in the river (supervised) while being cheered on by the younger kids.

It’s been going on for years, not everyone is doing things for the insta likes. Some things are just fun to do.

It’s all what they want and then forget about and leave behind a year later

to repeat the same palaver at secondary only usually with even more cost

it’s all rather OTT to my mind, and teaching children that you can celebrate without huge expense and lots of organised stuff would probably be a far better thing long term

At my daughter’s school they had their leavers assembly and a residential. The PTA organised hoodies and a group of volunteer parents organised a prom. If the parents want a prom why don’t they organise it?

Yearbooks are neither American nor cheesy. They are for senior school though. Wonderful memories.