school talent show

[Whoneedssleepanyway]

I am not sure about this but DH has got a bee in his bonnet about this.

DD's school is arranging a "...got Talent" type competitiion. The heats will be held in the classes (1 class per year group) and then the best two acts selected within the class heat will go through to perform in front of the school and the head and a panel will choose the winner.

DD is in reception, we have had a letter to say they don't have to participate but if they want to we have to fill in a slip saying what they are going to do (can be anything from telling a joke...to dancing, singing) but all practice must be done at home. DD naturally wants to take part as they are all excited and takling about this.

DH is really unhappy about this, thinks at 5 they are too young to be in a situation where they are setting themself up to be rejected and not chosen, and he thinks it is lose:lose i.e. they don't get chosen to go through they will be upset but if they do they then have to perform in front of the school which would be v daunting. He hates all these talent X factor type shows anyway and thinks people just humilate themselves.

I told him he is over-reacting, it is just a bit of fun, I am sure the reception class heat will just be a bit of fun and the teacher will get them all to decide between them which acts they want to go through and I am sure they would take into account whether they thought the child would be alright performing it on the day.

DH said he wanted to have a word with the teacher to say he disapproved, but I thought this was over the top and he should just leave it.

manic - sadly parents are expected to attend at all three of the primary schools DS has attended, perhaps I will have to be ill that day . The last two I attended were dire, I wouldn't mind if they were any good - and I have been to a couple of fantastic musical shows at senior school level - but watching primary age children pretending to be on X factor or similiar is my idea of hell (so is watching the real X factor for that matter ).

They had these at DDs primary school, they didn't have heats though, any acts could enter but were limited to I think 3 minutes each. We always found them a bit of fun and the kids that didn't win seemed to have a good time. The audience was always very supportive of the younger kids in particular. They had winners in various categories (comedy, singing etc) and there were no prizes. My DD won once and was runner up once, but not particularly bothered either way. I think they announced the winners the following day in school assembly and not at the actual time which was a good idea in my opinion.

I agree with your DH, I think it is too young to be setting up these kids to be judged and scored on very subjective grounds. X-Factor / BGT etc are so popular partly because of the humilation of the less talented performers. The school should not be aping this Cowell-esq bullying.

Anyway, even if you don't agree with his viewpoint, his opinion is reasonable and you shouldn't just dismiss it.

I think it is more about vetting the acts>my Dc uswd to be at a school with an absolute twerp of a HT who didn't consider it would be a good idea to vet acts before putting them up in front of a hall full of parents.All I'll say is He won't make that mistake again!!!

DH said he wanted to have a word with the teacher to say he disapproved

Hahaha, sorry but I have tears in my eyes from giggles reading that!! I can imagine the teacher giving him a blank faced stare when he says he disapproves. What a silly man. Tell him to lighten up!!

A couple of years ago DS's primary started an annual talent show competition. Each year the headmaster would deliver a speech about how competition is bad and how there shouldn't be winners and loser and how he got voted down by the parent governors. Same speech every year

"The school should not be aping this Cowell-esq bullying"

Lighten up. The kids perform. The judge gives some speech about being wowed by the talent of the children and how hard it was to choose a winner. Hardly Cowell-esq bullying.

Blimey, I wonder how badly well we're going to do in the Olympics with this 'No winners, no losers' attitude

Everyone has to get used the the fact there's someone else who's better than them at something.

If that something was maths for example, you wouldn't expect a child to not be allowed to flourish mathematically just in case it upset one of their peers.

From the age a child is old enough to run, they learn that other people can run faster than them....and if they want to better themselves, they have to practice and try harder.

A good lesson to take through life.

Our school did it and it was very successful according to my kids.

Entry was optional and my children (Y1, Y4, Y6) all enjoyed it.

In practice, all class teachers picked a boy and girl act to represent them and the whole school watched them in an assembly. A panel (head teacher, the policeman who is linked to the school and the caretaker) decided on a winners for foundation, KS1 and KS2 and the assembly ended with some of the teachers dancing to Katy Perry Firework.

The foundation winner was a girl magician , the KS1 winners were a girl band and the KS2 winners were a couple of boys pretending to be Ant and Dec and did standup.

My younger 2 "auditioned" and were fine about not being chosen. The auditions were judged by the teacher/TA and low-key (definitely no humilation).