I am so angry!

[KateEllis]

At the end of September my DD (age 7) was cast as Cinderella in the school panto. The school takes these things VERY seriously so they have had lots of after school sessions etc. I was very pleased for my daughter because she was so excited (please note I did not care about her having a lead role, I just want her to be happy). She has had loads of lines to learn but has been brilliant and learnt them all, on top of learning two solo songs and 4 other songs and attended every after school rehersal. I had also made one of her costumes and bought another. The panto was due to be next friday, then the falling monday and tuesday.

However today this happened. I was waiting in the yard to collect her and her younger sister, when she came out of school I could see it looked like she was on the verge of tears, I asked her what was wrong and she said 'I'm not Cinderella anymore'.
At first my initial thought was, as she was ill yesterday mybe somebody covered for her and she was a bit confused. I asked this but she insisted the part had been given to another little girl.
Her teacher was in the yard so I went over to speak to her.
I just said dd is a bit upset because she thinks she is no longer playing cinderella.
Her teacher said "That's right she isn't"
I asked why and she said
"Well she was off yesterday, and I expect people who are given big parts to show a commitment. It is also to show her that good attendance is a must"
Yesterday was the first day my daughter has had off this year!!!!!!
She also said she has given another girl the part and now this little girl has to learn everything by next friday which just seems impossible for a 7 yo, and as I said the school will expect this girl to learn all the lines as they take drama productions extremely seriously.

My daughter is so upset and I am so angry, up until today her teacher and others have been coming up to me in the yard and saying how great she is doing now they have completely devastated her after all the effort she has put in. She now has no part at all, as its a whole school production all parts are taken up.

I am so angry and upset for my poor daughter who hasn't stopped crying

Applause.

I would contact somebody about the lack of policy in any case if I were you.....

Well doen kate, it is sad for cinders2 but it is schools fault not yours.

I am really impressed with how you both handled it - well done for not backing down. A very satisfactory outcome, and do still take it up with the governors etc. Thrilled for your DD, too.

OMG!think i know what school your own about.bunch of ole Dragons

Result!

Well done KateEllis and dh - you have supported your daughter amazingly - she will remember this in years to come. Huge congratulations for standing up to the Head and the teacher.

Will you come back to this thread after the shows and tell us how lovely your dd was, and how well the whole thing went, please? And congratulate her from us (I hope I may speak for the MN Massive, on this).

Savoycabbage - your mum sounds like a legend - what chutzpah!

Go Ka-ate, Go Ka-ate!! (Have to make two syllables to do the whole Jerry Springer chant)

Good for you - I'm so pleased you forced them to back down. I hope you are successful in finding a decent school where they value the welfare of the children above their own bizarre machinations.

Very pleased for you.

Savoycabbage - ha,ha, - good on your Mam!

HT will need to move mountain to make this up to you and dd

Well done KateEllis. What a horrible school. I am fascinated by the other parents and the possibility of them having been recent funders of the school. Very fortuitous that your daughter had a day off sick

Wow! At this thread. On so many levels.

Oh my goodness! Kate, you are amazing! Well done you. You fought your DD's corner and got the best possible solution for her.

What odious sounding people they sound. Definitely not the people you would want to be responsible for caring for your child.

WEll done, though I'll give 100to1 that there's something seriously shifty going on there, and think you should take it to the Governors anyway, and quite possibly the papers (anonymously perhaps).

I agree with Jux - the governors and the papers need to know - I bet they have acted this way before and will do so again if they are not stopped. Just wait till the play is over of course...

Well done! Fantastic work by both of you, you make an excellent team.

I could wish you hadn't told them at this meeting that you would be removing your DD - that might have been better left until after the panto, but never mind, it's said now.

And if you can't get them into another school immediately, you might have to home-ed them for a term - but there is NO WAY I would consider sending my child back to a place like that next term.

Write to the Governors anyway, drop them in it with the public health board anyway - otherwise you would be jeopardising your professional conscience and couldn't live with yourself.

I really think you should name & shame on the day of the first performance. Any local MNetters can then go along and cheer your dd. Glad that you gave the Ugly Sisters what for!

Well done for standing up for what is right for your dd, bet she is feeling great knowing her mum and dad have stood up to the nasty teachers over something so unjustified and won.

And I hope you feel good about it too - standing up for your daughter that is, it's not good that the school did that too her obviously. And hopefully your dh will listen when you object to his choice of school in the future

One more name to add to your list of letters to send - OFSTED - bet they would like to hear about the lack of sickness policy and the way that they think it is OK to punish one little girl for being off sick for a day despite explemlary attendance and behaviour the rest of the time, but then got worried about hurting the feelings of another child who only had the part for a day...

Would be interesting to know if they have already printed off the programmes for the school play (or at least set them up ready to print) and what name is down as Cinderella - and when that name was added!

Well done.

My mum went into school for me when I was in P7. She kicked up a huge fuss with the teacher as I was being treated unfairly.

I never forgot it. Your DD will not forget this either.

Hooray!

Good for you KateEllis, I hope you are planning to let the governors still.

applauds :)

Well done.
They'd obviously taken a nice little envelope from Cinders2 parents.

Good for you. I hope you do name the school once your children have stopped going there.

Well done that family! Yay!

That's fantastic news. You and DH did a fabulous job standing up to those imbeciles.

I do, however, want to echo the thoughts of a few previous posters about possible repercussions on your daughter. I wouldn't put it past such douche bags as these. So please do go to the Governors and let them know what has happened and that you wouldn't be surprised if it happens again. Also, please to report it to the Health Dept, they need to know that there is no program in place for children who are sick. You may even help prevent this happening to another child.