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.

Mining and the use of pasties by the miners (they didn't eat the crust because their hands were too dirty to touch their food)

(Althpugh I like the Paddington idea)

Hell, yeah!

Benin Bronzes? Nicked.
Elgin Marbles? (I believe we paid the Ottomans for them.)
Hoa Hakananai'a (Easter Island Statue)? A basalt moai statue taken from Rapa Nui in 1868 by a British crew and placed in the British Museum. The Rapa Nui community and Chilean government have formally requested its return.

etc.

The Devon / Cornish scones sounds lovely.

There’s a lot to talk about with afternoon tea traditions - how to set the table; how to pour tea (could put juice in a tea pot to practise); good table manners such as not reaching across the table to grab stuff; how what you eat varies across the country; how to talk politely etc. You could also talk about how this is an event for family and friends to socialise.

Oranges & lemons was mentioned earlier & it would be a good way of introducing rhyming slang if you want to focus on London.

Oranges and Lemons is a great historical nursery rhyme!

Although in modern renditions they disappointingly omit the ‘here comes a chopper to chop off your head’ part. They just repeat ‘here comes a candle to light you to bed’

Keep it simple and mystical. Dress him up as a druid and send him with a tray of Bourbonhenge.

Literature. I'm an immigrant and I love this about Britain. Beatrix Potter, AA Milne, CS Lewis, Shakespeare. My children grew up on both cultures and literature is the one thing we are very proud of about being British. Maybe choose a book and embody it completely by dressing up and bring props (stuffed animals to re-enact Peter Rabbit, Winnie The Pooh, etc) Or dress up as Kings and Queens and recite a Shakespeare. I mean, the entire Horrible Histories crew are national treasures! Hope you have a great time being proud of who you are. x

I taught my children the chopper bit.

Me too, DS loves that bit 😅

Brilliant idea!

Though I really like the idea of marmalade sandwiches and reading a Paddington Bear book, too.

You could share the George and the dragon story then colour a dragon, make a dragon mask. Reception kids will love anything dragon related.

Paddington Bear is a great idea. There's a lovely big mural on London's South Bank. Work that into your story. Will post a photo if it lets me.

I do love this. Love a dragon 🐉

That’s lovely, I hadn’t known it was there!

Nursery rhymes
Traditional stories
A book you read as a kid
Red post box.
Fairy cakes
Pancakes
Skipping rhymes
Clapping rhythms/rhymes
Cat's cradle
Songs you sang in assembly
Games you played in PE/playground
Paddington was a TV programme and film so would fit.

😂

So how did it go OP? What did you choose?

Aw thanks for asking! It was actually really sweet, only a couple of other parents wanted to do anything/were free to do something (some Venezuelan music and Nigerian dance session, both great) but others did bring in lots of nice food for the picnic. Lots of children in traditional dress from their various cultures.

I did end up reading Paddington at the Palace, my little boy had a Kings Guard costume and acted as my assistant and I asked lots of questions to the children about where Paddington came from and various London landmarks etc. Then we gave out little jars of marmalade with a Paddington sticker on.

I sent in a tray of cream cheese and cucumber sandwiches with the crusts cut off and cheese and pineapple sticks for the picnic, and a little dish of coronation chicken, which I don’t think was too popular with the children but the teachers liked it!

Sounds perfect, thanks for updating us.