Halloween at school

[Ganainmlondon]

We are very disappointed as our child's teacher wanted to have a Halloween celebration of sorts in school as she realised the children were so disappointed that they couldn't trick or treat or have a party with their friends. Our West London school said no as they argued costumes would be a Covid health and safety risk but now they are doing an international language day instead and the kids can dress up as something to do with South America. I'm all for learning more about the world, especially languages but it doesn't mean much to the children and to have T&T at school with their friends would really be something to look forward to in these dark times. Not sure why the school feels costumes are ok for one event in the week and not another. I wish the school would think about what the children need in these times to feel happy and normal.

On our school it was banned because some parents complained on religious grounds (Christians)

OP, you lost me at the last sentence of your post. Something about wishing schools would think about doing what it takes to make kids feel happy and normal.

Thank you.

Giving up our Easter and half term breaks, switching instantly to on line, phone calls home, creating (when the supermarket shelves were empty) and delivering food parcels. All that's for shit cos we aren't putting into place some substitution for your kids poncing sweets off strangers trick or treating.
Yeah you're right. Schools are rubbish

If the schools objection was one of offending other faiths then that’s one thing, but clearly that isn’t the objection when they’ve said about Covid risk with costumes?! Which is stupid.
As a pagan celebration it’s no more ‘offensive’ than Ramadan or eid, or Hanukkah. Or Christmas come to that. So that argument is also invalid.

@Beautiful3 that is not what Samhain was or is. It’s simply marking the changing of the seasons, the ancient celts associated winter with death, yes, (in winter more people died!) but only in so far as they believed jf was a time when the dead were closer and could help them predict the coming years weather. Nothing to do with dark forces.
All Hallows’ Eve to the Christians was simply the day before All saints day which commemorates the dead. Feralia was a similar thing to the Romans, also in late October.
So none of these days were about dark forces. Read a book.

@TW2013

Dress as a skeleton with a mask representing the Day of the Dead, very South American.

Day of the Dead is Mexican which is part of North America.

I was about to point out that Mexico is not in South America!

Guatemala in Central America?

Sorry- you should know MN is pedant central!

[quote OwlBeThere]@Beautiful3 that is not what Samhain was or is. It’s simply marking the changing of the seasons, the ancient celts associated winter with death, yes, (in winter more people died!) but only in so far as they believed jf was a time when the dead were closer and could help them predict the coming years weather. Nothing to do with dark forces.
All Hallows’ Eve to the Christians was simply the day before All saints day which commemorates the dead. Feralia was a similar thing to the Romans, also in late October.
So none of these days were about dark forces. Read a book.[/quote]
👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻
Thank you

@lanthanum

Not everyone wants to celebrate Halloween. I wouldn't be happy with it being done in school.

I agree, I've never heard of it at any school. Having said that, nobody 'tricks or treats' around here anyway, thankfully.

Better to do something a bit more wholesome.

Halloween is an important cultural experience that children should experience at school. I dont understand why some parents are so against it.
Its fun and its educational. What more do you want.

@Ganainmlondon

For the last time - its not about the curriculum! Not everything at school is about curriculum learning. School is about also socialising, learning to get along with and work with others, being creative and imaginative, accepting differences, understanding our culture and others, both past and present. This about mental wellbeing at a time when it is under strain, about giving children opportunities to have fun and be creative together when they have lost so many other opportunities this year! Its just a theme that they ALL enjoy. All kids love ghosties and ghoulies. British values are about acceptance and tolerance, and not being narrow minded. Like it or not, Halloween, in whatever shape or form it takes these days, is a part of our culture and the kids get very excited about it. They have being voicing their disappointment since school started that they can't trick or treat and the teacher was just trying to let them experience something fun and normal together in their bubble.

Agree with you OP. Letting the kids dress up and providing a few sweets would be exciting for them and allow them to do something fun. Lots of schools do Halloween parties usually, so even if they just let kids dress up for the day it would be something. It seems a tiny thing to do.

I love how some Christians object to Halloween when its a Christian (ok co-opted as they all are) festival you know all hallows eve

They've knocked it on the head because there's always one or two parents who are fun suckers. Or they'll argue to the hilt that not every parent can afford £1 for a witches hat, or a face crayon/kohl pencil to draw cat whiskers on their child's face. Yet, more than happy to expect 'costumes' on World book day or whatever. Tbf the teacher could still stroll right ahead with a 'learning lesson' about Halloween and dress up the classroom. But they'd probably still have someone complaining about that too. Maybe the teacher could do a lesson centered around everyone being entitled to form their own opinions (unless of course it clashes with someone else's).

By the time my son reached school I figured he was old enough to dictate what he joined in / celebrated or not, if he chose to join in or not is up to him

I treat Halloween the same as plant a tree day, Easter, a Muslim festival, paint a school wall, international food day etc.

Just because a person of one culture dictates what their kids can and can't do does not mean all 'extra' events have to stop.

I just tell him it broadens his horizons and he may enjoy it

At home we dont celebrate Halloween really

I thought Day of the Dead was celebrated in Mexico, which isn't actually in South America

[quote OwlBeThere]@Beautiful3 that is not what Samhain was or is. It’s simply marking the changing of the seasons, the ancient celts associated winter with death, yes, (in winter more people died!) but only in so far as they believed jf was a time when the dead were closer and could help them predict the coming years weather. Nothing to do with dark forces.
All Hallows’ Eve to the Christians was simply the day before All saints day which commemorates the dead. Feralia was a similar thing to the Romans, also in late October.
So none of these days were about dark forces. Read a book.[/quote]
Tbf I’m not sure that either traditional Samhain or All Hallows’ Eve activities are exactly what the OP had in mind. It’s quite removed from the modern, more commercialised celebration.

Do schools these days still paint Easter eggs? Okay, it's a symbolic tradition to dye eggs red. But as far as I'm aware at no point was it declared 'symbolic' to cover said eggs in cotton wool, glitter, win a prize for the best way to incorporate an egg into a topical scene... In my day at school it was always 'Eggwina Curry and Samonella, or Humpty Dumpty' type affairs. I'm pretty sure neither of those were mentioned by our vicar on Easter Sunday 🙄

*Currie 😳

It’s because some parents are permanent fun sponges and complain about everything.

My daughters going to a Halloween party that’s being thrown by a friend and she’s still dressing up

Let kids have fun

Tbf I’m not sure that either traditional Samhain or All Hallows’ Eve activities are exactly what the OP had in mind. It’s quite removed from the modern, more commercialised celebration.

I'd love to see what your Christmas looks like.

This is all so weird. Halloween was celebrated in my Catholic schools growing up in Ireland. If you can't manage to be as fun as an Irish Catholic school where hair bobbins could only be blue, navy or white...

To be fair how decisive is it really? It's a long held tradition so surely no harm in mentioning it as a historical/current cultural event? Or do we just teach our children the things we like/agree with? Do we then take it to the point of disregarding other events/occasions based on what our own preferences are? And if someone deems typical Halloween fodder too intense for a primary school child? Fuck knows how they'll cope with the Holocaust standard learning at 11/12 at Secondary? Surely kids can be kids with a bit of spooky fun, that's frankly way less horrific than the actual shit people have inflicted on on other people.