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.

That would be Sydney.

I dont think the food needs to be kosher halal or vegan, in the same way i wouldnt expect an Indian kid to bring in a curry made without spices

Scones and jam would be good. Not sure how many kids would like marmalade. Or afternoon tea type finger sandwiches. Like the Paddington idea though. 🥰

Yes, you could do this or... you could make the point even more easy to grasp by dressing yourself up as a mug with All Welcome scrawled across it.

Nobody thinks the bear who literally says “I come from darkest Peru” in the first page of the first book, and “I’m from darkest Peru” in the opening scenes of the film is from Peru…..?

Pretty sure Michael Bond, and by extension, Paddington himself think he’s Peruvian, given that he explicitly and repeatedly says he is Peruvian. 🙄

I really like the Paddington idea.

But, you could dress DS up in his King's Guard outfit, and read the poem Buckingham Palace by AA Milne. Which ends with it being time for tea, which could tie in with any traditional afternoon tea type food?

Michael Bond was English.

Paddington Bear is a British classic.

The kids are 5.

Why are you trying so hard to overcomplicate this?

It 💯 has to be scones
or
the regional dialects for roll/bun/barm cake etc and they have to pin them on a map or match them to a point marked - where they think they go! That is fun talking about different ways our culture has grown to have different words for similar things or regional foods. They need to understand we a nation of differences and now bring in wider cultures too.

Your idea is lovely, OP.

Regional foods also a great idea: Cornish pasties, stottie cakes from Newcastle, Eccles cakes, Dorset apple cake etc. Also Derbyshire well dressing as an example of a regional custom still done today.

Echo PPs that suggest focussing on what’s local to you eg Kent’s history of iron foundries and orchards etc.

I loathe the way some people act as though England doesn’t have its own culture when we absolutely do. Very strong folk music traditions too - look at what Vaughn Williams did on that front.

Paddington is from Peru but he embraces English culture and even takes his name from an english railway station.
That's kind of the point of learning about culture isn't it?

I simply stated the absolute fact that Paddington Bear is from “darkest Peru”. It’s really weird that so many people seem keen to try and dispute something that’s a fact.

Are you saying it doesn't matter how well people integrate, they will only ever be from the place where they were born?

Personally I know no one who has marmalade sandwiches. Also marmalade is the stickiest stuff going... not a good combination with infants.

Has anyone stated that Paddington is English?

I think I must've missed it.

But that also makes it such a good theme, as it represents London's hospitality and inclusivity extended to Paddington as well.

Which is fine. But it doesn’t change him being from Peru, and the fact so many people seem to want to rewrite the immigrant part of the story is really weird.

“Dude nobody thinks Paddington is Peruvian”….. 🤔

It does. But not if people try to rewrite the immigrant part of the story.

The scones idea is brilliant - they could also vote on how to pronounce it (scone like phone or scone like gone).

When I was at school, we went on a school trip to visit another school in China. They gave us presentations about China, Chinese culture, history and folklore, and we gave presentation about the UK. I remember talking about our myths and legends, King Arthur, Robin Hood, Cornish Piskies etc. Perhaps you could do something around that?

But in our house we are HUGE Paddington fans, so I LOVE the Paddington idea personally, and think kids would love the addition of the marmalade sammies too. And I especially love what @KindlySurfiingPlatypus said, about linking it to our very British tradition of welcoming people from elsewhere.

For costumes, what about a medieval-style king with a cape and crown - should be fairly easy? Or I've seen Beefeater costumes in shops. Or even an England football kit?

That was in reply to you already banging on about it.

The reply was to you saying...

"Yes, but the character is Peruvian. Lots of characters were created by British authors, but it doesn’t make them British. Would you suggest that OP turn up as Poirot? Or Mowgli from the Jungle Book?"

I'm sure the OP is perfectly capable of explaining the roots of a fictional bear in a story written by an English author....

I need to see the obscene tiara.

Good idea. And if Paddington and marmalade sandwiches were good enough for the late Queen then you couldn't get more British.

As worn at hen parties maybe?