to almost hope that DSs don't win an award at school next year?

[myotherusernameisbetter]

just back from the award ceremony and even as a grown adult with the patience of a saint it was cripplingly boring.....poor kids had a rehearsal all afternoon and then had to give up their entire evening to sit in the cathedral for 10 seconds of walking up to the front to get a certificate.

Scant reward really for an entire year of hard work - hoping guessing they will maybe try less hard next year.

We were at one last night as well.
Last time we went to the yr 11/13 (yr 12s dont have one for some reason) the whole year group was invited to collect their school certificates for gcses etc.
They changed it this year so that it they gave out certificates at leavers lunch for year 13s which was just the pupils which from all accounts was lovely. Did something similar for year 11s
Last night was for the "special prizes" which prizes that had been sponsored and only involved about 30 pupils in all. Involved drinks and canapes and actual prize giving was less than an hour.
We have sat through over 2 hour prize givings in the hot summer and they are not fun. Even those were invitation only and thankfully they are getting shorter.

brainwashed - that sounds better than ours - the reason it's in the Cathedral is that the school isn't that big, it has one main hall and it isn't big enough to accommodate everyone. The Cathedral is massive and the only place in the village/town that can accommodate everyone. I think though that it then seems to make them feel that they need to make the evening much more formal that it should be.

I have been assured by some pupils that the atmosphere in the school on a day to day basis in not formal and is a warm and comfortable environment for them to learn and grow in. No idea why they decide to overboard at the prizegiving evening. This is a normal council high school btw, not a ancient traditional private school.

bruffin - sounds more sensible. There were light refreshments available last night too but we didn't go as it was half 9ish by this point

Thankfully the refreshments were first

Don't think the DSs really care too much about the ceremony or certificate tbh. The are chuffed when they get a good report and we celebrate that at the time. DS1 really wants a merit badge but I'm struggling to understand the criteria. It seems to be that if they get straight 6s on their interim report, they get the badge. But, if they get straight 6s on their final report, they get to go to the ceremony and get a certificate.....but you can also do that if you get mostly 6s and a couple of 5s in the final report. So, because he had one 5 on his interim he doesn't get a badge, but gets no badge or extra recognition for getting straight 6s in his final report - doesn't seem right to me.

We are now going on the fact that satisfaction with your own performance should be the only reward plus mum and dad saying they are proud and buying a small gift of choice

And yes, I'd put up with any amount of boredom for my children too and I'm moaning about here rather than to them :)

The point is though that they are bored too. Just found out also that they had to use half their lunch break to walk to the cathedral before hand which I think is a bit unfair too.