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.

Croydon has a lot of interesting history

I’m trying to think what would be good for little kids

Builders excavated the skeleton of a rhino about 60 years ago and I think there’s a lot of evidence about prehistoric creatures roaming in the area!

Then there’s the name, named for crocuses because it was like a valley where they grew.

If you google you will see - and then you can decide what’s interesting for little kids.

if we broaden it out to South London and Surrey, you’ll find lots of stuff

Thank you! Yes Margery Kempe is fascinating!

Husband is, actually, a Bow-bells born and bred East-London-ite. Maybe he could teach a bit of rhyming slang.

OP that is a great idea if it can be made age appropriate
You could pick a few simple terms and even get them to invent their own. Might be a bit too hard for smalls, you would have to test it first.
You will have to stay away from the cultural aspects.
eg My DH's friend known as Mick the Bubble.
Bubble and squeak = Greek 😂

I did not know this about a rhino! Off to google!

I’m originally from the east midlands, so I do a Robin Hood theme in green clobber and Jam Roly Poly sliced up. 😂

Many Greeks find 'Bubble' offensive so I would definitely steer clear of that.

It's similar to 'Paddy' or 'Jock' for Irish and Scottish people.

Paddington Bear and marmalade sandwiches are perfect for that age group.

My daughter's school does something similar, but it was students doing something related to their culture in assembly if they wanted to. Then after school there was an event in the hall where parents took in food from their culture - but you had to sign up in advance so there wasn't too much of one thing. I didn't take food, but did go round the different stalls with DD - the English/British 'stand' was scones, shortbread, Victoria sponge that sort of thing - I don't remember if there was anything savoury, maybe sausage rolls. It was a really lovely event.

Actually, would it be nice to take a crocus plant kit in? The kids could plant them and water them and so on. But they do need to be outdoors because they need cold, don’t they?

apparently, Elizabeth I loved Croydon palace so much, she haunted it!

there’s a whole bunch of stuff about trains and the airport, but I don’t find that particularly interesting.

edit - being honest I’d hate this kind of thing because people would make assumptions based on my skin colour, but if you can make it about the area you live in it’s different isn’t it. I don’t think school should be doing it though so why am I on this thread lol

Could you do an afternoon tea (scones?) and tales from King Arthur/Camelot (there are probably some downloadable colouring sheets) as a means of talking about English history/literature without being contentious?

This

I think your Paddington idea sounds lovely. There are several Paddington stories that are set at various landmarks - S Paul's Cathedral, Buckingham Palace, Tower of London etc
Paddington and the Grand Tour features lots of famous London locations and a red bus. That might be a good one.

How about a Victoria sponge cake?

Before they closed the girl’s Whitgift school they did tours there occasionally so I got to see what bits of it Elizabeth 1 visited when she stayed (primarily to go out hunting, hard to imagine it all lush and green) including what would have ballroom, very interesting.

Groaning cake isn’t make from placenta no. It’s a spiced fruit cake that was baked during labour ready for the new mother after birth. It was healing and warm and packed with stuff to aid recovery.

Celebrate your Englishness by not giving a shit about all this malarky

The Alfie and Annie Rose books always felt really "English" to me growing up, particularly the illustrations. They could be a good starting point, with a victoria sandwich maybe.

Yes, maybe you could go around with a guardian tucked under your arm, examining all the different cultural vibes that have been brought in and say something like "nice, but its all irrelevant really as culture is a bit of construct and at the end of the day we are all just mongrels"

You don't need to celebrate being white, no. Just English is fine.
Nobody will be specifically celebrating their skin colour I don't think?

But things like Morris dancing, cream tea, pearly kings, pie and mash, Stonehenge, British inventions, obviously the RF. (Not that they're actually British some of the royals?)

If you do go down the history route just make sure it's not accidentally praising anyone involved in slavery.

What's wrong with celebrating a bit of history and culture?

Guy Fawkes Day is coming up so you could maybe do something around that?

I'd do tea and cakes if it was me though. Proper teapot and cups and saucers and a Victoria sponge. That always says 'English' (in a nice non-Reformy way) to me.

I'm sure the same will apply to some of the other nationalities in the class, too.

I can't help thinking that some posters are losing sight of the fact that the kids are 4/5 years old.

Paddington and scones (option of jam or marmalade on the latter). There will be an abundance of food if 15 sets of parents are all sending food in. So don't overthink it.

Exactly! It doesn't need to be that deep.

Given that it's October and the children may be at least mildly anticipating Hallowe'en, could you focus on the roots of one or a few English traditions from around this time of year?

Apple bobbing as the activity, and either the apples themselves as the food or some simple traditional dish like apple crumble.

Medieval "souling" traditions, with a simple explanation re how they are one of the roots of modern international Hallowe'en, and find an authentic recipe for soul cakes? Or discuss guising, and either provide the traditional fruits, nuts, etc. or hand out mini "treats" like chocolate bars (just make sure they're English/British brands)?

Turnip carving could be fun, although turnip dishes may not be a big hit with young children!

For a Norfolk theme, Blessing of the Nets is in October - I don't know how popular herring dishes would be, but you could do tiny newspaper cones with fish and chips.

Or a brief age-appropriate lecture on Guy Fawkes/Bonfire Night with something like Parkin Squares, bonfire toffee, or even something like spiced hot cider or hot chocolate.

I can't help thinking that some posters are losing sight of the fact that the kids are 45 years old.

Sorry but... 🤣🤭