Cultural Day at Primary School

[DancingonmyOwn88]

Looking for ideas! Not a political debate.

it’s Cultural appreciation Day next week at my son’s school, there’s quite a lot of different backgrounds that his classmates are coming from (only 15 in the class but it’s a southeast London borough) and we are actually in a bit of a minority being white British.

But they want parents to be involved which is very nice and it happens to be a day I’m not working, so they’re inviting us to come in and do a 5-10 min activity and take some traditional food from your culture to a class lunch.

As I say we are just English. Not even any Scottish or Irish or Welsh or things that are widely celebrated. I suppose it’s just making me wonder if it’s ‘ok’ to outwardly celebrate being white British without causing any offence (please no Reform-esque debates here I am trying to navigate it appropriately!

What do I do? Learn morris dancing? Dress as a Pearly Queen 😂

I thought about just reading a Paddington Bear book and making some marmalade sandwiches but is that a bit lame?

DS is only in reception by the way so they’re all very small obviously and they’re still all getting to know each other as a class.

Stop being an apologetic idiot. It will rub off on your son and make him feel inferior to other cultures.

Because of things like this: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cyvj289y788o

My daughter worked in a multicultural school and always went as Emmeline Pankhurst on these days. It was a secondary school in Manchester so I suppose it may be lost on 4 year olds.
Paddington sounds great, and his stories are set in London, even though he is Peruvian!
A fab idea xxx

What about an Alice in Wonderland theme? You could do tiny finger sandwiches / snacks and label them all "eat me" etc

I love eels! They will be consumed as part of my English Cultural Appreciation Day.

https://thewrightbrothers.co.uk/products/hot-smoked-eel-fillets

Also, revisiting London's Chinatown, where I've eaten many deep fried eels (and other sorts) with squid and chilli, garlic, coriander gremolata. Let's hear it for the immigrants!

And of course, historically (AI): "Londoners ate eels for centuries as a major part of the city's diet, ranging from medieval currency to Victorian working-class fast food.

Medieval History (11th–14th Centuries)
Currency and Rent: Eels were so abundant in the River Thames and crucial to daily life that they were used as a pseudo-currency, with rents, taxes, and fines paid in "sticks" of eels. etc..."

I completely see where you are coming from, I remember my son doing a badge at Beavers and they covered cultures from Great Britain and it left me thinking compared to Scotland/wales etc England has less obvious things.

For that age group I think Paddington is completely on topic and a genius idea. They will love a short story and sandwiches is easy.

I think it's very sad to think of children being raised by parents with this attitude. Of course there is so much to celebrate about English heritage. I hope the OP has a massive think after this because all children deserve to be proud of their heritage and culture. I'm Welsh but I think English culture and heritage is formidable in its richness, variety, length and breadth. The achievements of that one tiny country are quite frankly, astonishing.

It’s ‘very sad’ to be raised by a parent who wants to get involved in their child’s primary school’s calendar by providing an activity for their peers and asking for ideas on how best to deliver this… is it really?!

Thank you for pointing it to us with low capacity to comprehend. But there was no need for over smartness sarcasm here.

Winnie the Pooh is good. Ashdown Forest is a short trip from Croydon.

The area is interesting for the Battle of Britain airfields (Kenley, etc) but they might be a bit young for that.

If you are near Kew you have the wonderful world of plants and flowers to celebrate. How Kew has saved all the seeds gathered by explorers, gardeners from around the world and grown the plants etc.

You also have Henry Viii childhood home nearby. Children might like Tudor clothing.

I think its harder to think of cultural things from one's own culture as they are just 'normal' . They might look quite different to someone who didn't grow up in the same culture. A pp above mentioned the Americans on Instagram etc who are surprised by the most apparently ordinary things like biscuits and scones. I think the Paddington and marmalade sandwiches activity would work well with Reception children. Keep it simple.

I think maybe the issue would be that you're saying "white British" instead of just British as you don't have to be white to be British? A black British could just as much take Paddington themed stuff in?!

Paddington's fine either way I suppose.

Before you take in any food you will need to check about allergies.

Oh ffs, you cannot think of one, single cultural English thing? Cos I’m black, share THREE cultures and could come up with loads.

How about a list of museums with stolen and looted art? Too young a crowd?

Yeah, that really wasn’t the issue though. I was asking for ideas on how to make it fun and age-appropriate and landing well with a class made of lots of different cultures and backgrounds, I haven’t had some sort of lobotomy on traditional English activities. I even put a couple of those in the opening post.

It’s a totally nut free school anyway, but the school have actually asked for food to be brought in as long as ingredient list is included.

Yeah that’s where OP fucked up, “English” (or British as they’ve conflated the two) would have done, the white bit totally shows an agenda!

Put them in football kits and have them start a massive fight?

Well I’m sorry I didn’t get the words exactly right, I should have double checked and proof read again I guess, so, apologies. It does at least look like most posters have been able to grasp my meaning though which is great.

Also can I please remind that I did post this in chat not AIBU, as I wasn’t looking for a bunfight (Chelsea buns?!) and I definitely don’t have an agenda.

I just looked up the tradition of serving Wensleydale cheese and fruit cake as a Derbyshire born aunty used to do that years ago. Info on the net told me it was actually a Yorkshire thing. You could show them a picture of Wallace and Gromit and tell the children they were well known for liking cheese and that there are many varieties from Britain. A quick quiz on which cheese the children know about and that will cover 15 mins. The Paddington bear idea is a good one and you could mention that welcoming different people is a good idea.

What about mudlarking? Hands on history and you could include artefacts from different times for messy fun?

How about a plate of regional cakes/bakes (cut up small so children can try them) - Bath Buns, Chelsea Buns, Yorkshire Parkin, Bakewell Tart, Eccles Cakes, Cornish Fairings, Scottish shortbread, Welsh cakes etc and a line on the history of each of them, plus a map with each place pinpointed?

Hey OP. What a lovely thing to get involved in. I’m engaged in this because an English mate in the US had to do similar and ended up taking in a packet of Jammy Dodgers. I’m sure you have it all covered via this thread but the history of Marks and Spencer and a few picky bits?

Teddy bear picnic solves every aspect of thos issue

Lovely idea.

But... At what point do English children learn what maps are? And how to read them?

I know adults who can't.