To think a nativity play should include every child in some capacity?

[hattyyellow]

50 kids in top half of DD's primary school. Not a lot surely? As always, they are putting on a lengthy production with song after song. This takes up most of this half term.

DD came home to tell me that she had no part and that a third of the children weren't included but would sit at the front of the audience and sing along with the songs..so she will spend most of this half term sitting on the floor watching rehearsals.

She doesn't want a star part or even to speak. She just wants to dress up as a random stable animal or be one of a host of angels/stars and wander on stage and off again. Teacher said there is no "capacity" for extra children to be involved, within the restrictions of the script..

In the 80's, every kid got to stand on stage in some kind of costume. Surely? I'm convinced our school stretched the stable guest list to about 20 stable animals and a vast amount of angels - all in basic homemade costumes.

Now, it seems to have become a big extravaganza instead. Don't most parents only attend the nativity to see their kid up on stage, however small their contribution is - rather then to attend some imminently transferring to the west end lavish production, centring around a few main kids.

I can see that at secondary school you might attend a school production for its artistic merits. But at primary, surely it's about involving all the kids? Meh.

This has really annoyed me. There are loads of custom-written nativity plays available with eleventy squillion bit parts. It doesn't take any ingenuity to choose one of those and get parents to supply generic costumes (or make crowns in class to be worn with plain tops and bottoms for kings, cotton wool hats and tails with same plain clothes for sheep, etc).

Frankly, the more rubbish and home made, the funnier and cuter.

Definitely the choir should be part of the performance, in costume, on stage.

I direct Secondary productions, and any kid from any year who wants to be in it can be. We audition for the leads, but fit the others in as chorus and try to feature as many as possible in the front of dance routines etc. One year we had a boy with serious special needs who wanted to take part - my opinion was that as a pupil of the school he had the right. I was told he would not be able to learn dance routines/sequences of movement, so I worked round that. IN fact, he ended up doing 'the moves' which he taught himself by watching! Everyone can perform, and should be allowed to.

When DS was at a primary school with over 750 children in it the nativity included a choir. So that the children singing in the choir didn't miss out on dressing up they wore red cloaks with tissue paper neckcuffs.

I'm just gutted that the school he's at now (he's in yr2) don't seem to be doing a nativity for his year group.

For the last 2 years the format at DD's school seems to have been
YR - school has a set of white "dresses"/robes and the whole class are snowflakes or similar
Y1 - again costumes provided by school and whole class have parts. Last year we had M&J, several camels, donkeys etc, a whole line of angels (most of the girls), 3 Innkeepers, 3 kings and a number of shepherds
Y2 -were the choir and the narrators. Every child had a costume and every child got to say something.

I think they may be doing something different this year as Y2 DD is Owl 3, but they always include every child in KS1.

It is very mean to have a limited number of parts.

Yanbu our school does two playa, junior and infants and all kids take part amd dress up, even if its only an angel or animal or even carol singers with hats/scarves etc. They all get a turn on stage and all kids aremade to feel involved!

3 angels? I'm not a Christian but I remember this quote well enough

"and suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising god and singing "glory to god in the highest and on earth; peace, goodwill to all men""

3 does not sound like a multitude to me!

Start a rebellion OP - either the choir gets to be on stage in costume and be part of the performance in a meaningful way, or oops they all get flu and go iceskating together that day instead

Kidnap the baby Jesus doll and leave a note that says 'GIvE AlL kiDS a PArt Or THe baBY GETs iT'

(sorry baby Jesus)

YADNBU!! I hate this! At DD's school they have one production for years 3, 4, 5 and 6. All speaking / costumed parts are taken by years 5 and 6. So last year and this, DD (now year 4) has had nothing to do but sit and join in the songs and I have had to pay to sit through an hour of Other People's Children

I think it's a real cop-out. I don't want a big extravaganza. I just want to see my DC be a shepherd or an angel or a cow or a tree or SOMETHING in a sweet little nativity with Away in a Manger and Once in Royal David's City.

This year will be even more of a bust, because not only will DD have nothing to do, DS won't either, as he is in year 1 and proper parts in his play will be taken by year 2.

Grrr

My aunt sorts all the plays at her school and apparently I would be amazed at the amount of animals that were in Bethlehem that night. Of course every child should be involved in the nativity. Although at our school the children only do a play every other year, which is a shame as my dc loves performing.

Our school used to have a play with 120 year 5 and year 6s. Every child in year 6 had a speaking part and the year 5s made up the choir. One year they had a kid in a wheelchair with severe cerabral palsy in the play, athough he had no speaking part as that was impossible for him.

"YADNBU!! I hate this! At DD's school they have one production for years 3, 4, 5 and 6. All speaking / costumed parts are taken by years 5 and 6. So last year and this, DD (now year 4) has had nothing to do but sit and join in the songs angry and I have had to pay to sit through an hour of Other People's Children
"

Your son will eventually be in year 5 and year 6. Anyway you get to hear your child sing.

Yanbu, my DD was once the innkeepers wife,she got to answer the door and call the innkeeper, its easy to make up extra parts for kids, you can have loads of sheep, and extra animals in the stable. i think at that age anyone who wants to be in it should be.

Our school does a joint production with Y1 and Y2 and all 120 or so kids get a part. All Y1 do a song or dance previously as guests at the inn, angels, trees etc, and every child in Y2 gets at least one line. I think there were 24 narrators last year with one line each! Isn't a nativity all about inclusion, even if you have to crowbar in a fifth lobster?

Our school has 90 in reception. Every single one of them gets to have a specific costume, go up on stage and speak/sing. I have to admit I'm in awe at the staff coordinating it all. But if that can be managed, why on earth OP DD's school include 50 older primary children. It's divisive, demotivating and in OP's shoes I'd be making a complaint.

Yes every child should have a part at some point. My current school has KS1 as the nativity character we had about 5 angels last time I was teaching Y2

KS2 each do something in a theme as a class.

It takes a long time but no one is left out (unless they desperately don't want to do it)

Daft school....

Our primary had a "everyone has a role" and the role the ops child would be to do exactly as she is doing but dressed up -as " the choir, who are vital to leading our singing"

They even have wee choir robes that someone made! Mind you dd1 was a "carol singer" the 1st year and wore coat hat scarf and gloved and boiled lol

Our Year R do one dance/ song number on stage ( all of them) and spend the rest of the show sat in front of stage singing ( and picking their noses).

Honestly, they are really unimaginative.

Of all the commonly told stories it is one of the easiest to add in. You can either do 2, or add extra. The bible says, for example, there was a host of angels. That's an army size.

And if you have eg 8 shepherds, ratio 1 shepherd to ten sheep ( pretty good, more like 15), you've got a new Zealand level of sheep.

Plus stars. Countless.

Plus the 3 dromedaries and a baby drom. If you do that it can absorb 7 children.

And the wise men need at least two pages in their retinue.

Pathetic.

In my junior school there was the Nat play, all 120 children, the senior form Nat play ( they had done the stage production in the Nat play) , the summer play, sometimes a cut down Shakespeare, all 120 children .

Only those whose parents didn't want them involved were not included.
Pathetic.

opps - got distracted, Dh fell asleep while reading bedtime story, I had to go and finish the chapter.
So - year R do one song n dance number, as do year 1 in a "class " costume. DS's class were parcels one year and waiters the other year. year 2 do all the "acting" , all of KS1 learn all the songs.
The play is performed in a modest sized hall with a tiny stage and a couple of rows of benches in front of the stage for year R and 1. With 90 kids in show and 150 adults in audience the hall is RAMMED.

Same with dd2. 150 in the year. 18 parts apparently (though apparently 4 Marys ).
They don't even get a costume, just get to sit on the floor of the stage and sing the songs. Dd2 is somewhat unimpressed.

YANBU

When I was in primary school the same few pupils got star parts in productions every year. One year (I think yr 5) they took to plonking the rest of us in the library to read while they rehearsed. I started a petition to ask for a more even distribution of parts in the play. The HT was furious and called my mother in. She made the mistake of asking, indignantly what my mother though of this. My DM replied "we're very proud of Breathe, it was her idea and she typed the petition form herself" . I think that may have been the straw that broke the camel's back as my parents moved me to a much better school for year 7, instead of continuing at that one to 18.

Of course they should all be included. If only to be dressed up in some way and be singing the songs facing the audience.