Nativity disappointment why do teachers do it

[Bucketheadbucketbum]

Want to key stage 2 nativity today. It was 1 hour long! Approx 40 kids in it. Some children had multiple lines throughout the hour, on the stage for the bulk of the time, solo songs the works. Others had just one line and spent the rest of the time sitting to the side apart from group songs where they all stood up. I understand all parts cant be equal and it must be a nightmare to try and be fair but this was shockingly poorly distrubuted. Why would you do this as a teacher? So disappointing for the children and parents unless you happen to be one of the "stars" of the show.

If it's so good to learn to cope with disappointment why is it always the same children learning it?

One of my kids desperately wanted a big part in the leaver's play at primary but got the understudy, she turned up to every rehearsal, learned every line. Head commented to a governor at one rehearsal that the "star" really needed to watch her and learn the part but a problem as she kept missing rehearsals. The governor asked why their roles weren't reversed. The Head did do that but he wouldn't have if a governor hadn't intervened.

Favouritism? Maybe racism as my DD was the only child in the year who wasn't white.? Who knows. She had plenty of practice at learning to cope with disappointment at that school.

All ours have time on the stage but as others have said, not everyone wants the limelight, particularly in KS2.

This shit is exactly why I'm not a teacher anymore. It's not the pay, although that's rubbish, it's the fact that everything was my fault.

🤣

I understand your frustration. My DDs school have 90 in their year group's nativity. They are all singing 5 or 6 songs. They all have a part, some are non-speaking but they have a role and do something. There are of course main parts too, but everyone is reasonably involved.

I know it's not easy for teachers, but it is possible. This is a 'package' nativity, they haven't had to write it themselves, although they may have added roles e.g. 3 stars rather than 1.

I am a bit conflicted about the 'we give what the children ask for' stance. I can see why, but some children need to be believed in by others and won't put themselves forward.

My DD2 had 1 line parts all through primary until the y6 leavers play when she finally got a medium role. We had a number of parents come up to us after saying in a surprised voice how good she was. She'd never been given a chance before, lost in the sea of confident children.

i run a community group we do a Christmas show it’s unpaid, we always ask who wants to do more but sometimes it’s good to push the ones who want to shy away a little bit, we always see if we can persuade the quiet ones to say one line or shout a small word or phrase like ‘Baby Jesus!’ Or ‘hooray!’ Or even ‘happy Christmas!’ It’s always gets a chuckle and their little faces light up. Also I always think all kids should be up singing all the songs. Cba with the Charlotte Church of the local village singing silent night perfectly every year, yes it’s lovely but omg I want to hear 25 kids belting out little donkey badly that’s the true spirit of Christmas !!!

Maybe the teachers think it would be nice for kids who don't do 'theatre school and lamda' to experience a turn on stage 🤨

Maybe the kids who don’t do theatre school and lamda are still actually better on stage 😂

Ours is split yr1-3 and Yr 4-6. The 1-3 is about 90 kids in theory. 5 stars with one lead star, three Kings, three shepherd's, 4 sheep with one solo song sheep, a cat with a solo, a landlord who didn't speak, Mary and Joseph who didn't speak, some general villagers, half a dozen narrators. The kids left over had the choice of going in the choir (had one extra song only they sang) and the others wee the chorus so sanh 5 songs. It wasn't equal but it felt fair. DS was in the chorus. It can be done if they pick a play with extras or lots of songs

How about you enrol your dc into drama group outside of school? They’ll get plenty of opportunity to be on stage.

Im always baffled why parents think their dc, who have no stage experience, should be given priority over those who do. Who wants to hear a shy child, mumbling his/her lines?

The boy/girl who participates in football/rugby practise 3 times a week, after school, makes the school football/rugby team. Those who don’t participate in after school sports don’t. Any idea why?

It does teach them an important lesson in life. You need to be good at sitting there bored shitless while the talkative ones go on and on. It’s a shame there isn’t a way of making it more appealing for the ones who are less inclined to put themselves forward, they may like it if they had a chance. But appreciate that it is difficult to get right. I know this is very selfish but having to negotiate the time off work for a blink and you’ll miss it performance is kind of annoying.

So would you not go and see your child sing in a choir unless they had a solo? Such an odd attitude. My children know I love seeing them up there singing and smiling with the others ... I'm not counting their lines.

@napody I absolutely love a whole choir of kids singing, better than solos IMO. But I think OP means the kids sat to the side didn’t even sing the songs they literally sat there.

I think that's exactly the teacher logic. And they miss the point that actually the little ones in theatre school tend to get little parts as the teenagers get the main parts, so actually want the opportunity for a big part (or at least a speaking part) just as badly.
This happened to my son's friend every year at primary and she's really talented. Meanwhile we had to listen to mumblers get main parts

And also this is the equivalent of not picking the good football players for the school team because they already play club football. It's a weird social engineering exercise.

But I do like the "everyone who wants one gets a line" shows. Because I do think pushing shy children is important too (I was one)

We have year 2 with speaking parts and year 1 singing and up on stage to do their own song. It works because all year 2 get a speaking part and major roles are shared out so we have double narrators and two Mary and Joseph's etc. Year 1 know next year will be their turn to have a speaking role.

Oh and I was a narrator in my school play but only because I was the only one who could say chrysanthemum as the play was called 'The golden chrysanthemum'!

@DrMarciaFieldstone little bit harsh. We’re talking about kids here. Parents can’t win, say you send your kids to extra curricular drama so you’d like them to get a chance to put it into practice in school, and you’re made out to be a pushy parent who’s kid is crap anyway… then the ones saying they want their kids to have lines are told maybe they should send their kids to extra curricular drama so they’re not so crap ?!!

fwiw my kid does cricket and Irish dance and she’s never been asked to do mini river dance or bowl a ball for her school nativity 😂😂 but I think it’s a bit obvious in SOME schools who they use in plays, assemblies etc. Some kids just seem to be chosen ones, some not, some are in between.

Then perhaps they recognised with her enormous talent she's not the one who needed the confidence boost of being the lead in the school nativity 🙄

Nope, she said there were group songs where they all stood up.
This attitude of counting lines/'it only counts if its my child on their own' comes completely from parents.

Yes, same situation in ours today. They were just sat on chairs lined up at the back of the room.

We have ours next week ks1

90 kids as 3 classes

we have the sheet to learn stuff and can see how it is evenly spaced out as can see whole story and who says what

most kids have 2/3 lines to say spread out

all will jointly sing maybe 4/5 songs

in the end as long as child is happy you

congratulate your child at the end, tell them they sung beautifully etc and you were proud of them. Job done.

this

@Tinseltosser 😫 that’s crap to be honest. One year in infants my nephew who is sort of a quirky , nerdy type who was sort of born with what we call affectionately an ‘awkward turtle’ streak for nativities and plays and the like, but is still a lovely boy who just wants to be included, was made to dress in a girls costume because the teacher thought it would be funny to teach him a bit of a lesson for not being the most forthcoming at joining in. He was so embarrassed - the costume was pink sequins with a hall - the teacher said they had no idea and thought he should ‘go out of his comfort zone’ just mean IMO

@DollyDoofer , you know we are talking about a primary school play, not a professional production. Both very different purposes. How will the less confident children ever get more confident if not given a chance, especially at this young age? Or are we labelling 4 year olds now?

My kid were just excited for me to come into school, for them to be in school out of hours to be in their classroom waiting to come on stage in the dark, to show me the decorations, to wave at me when the come into the hall etc. Neither of them ever upset to not have a big enough part. I am sure it is disappointing for some but I think primary teachers work hard to get kids involved who want to be. Also, if they like performing a lot then they could always join a kids theatre group.

The teachers only want the confident kids in the best parts. The ones that would love to have a go, don’t get the opportunity. They have to sit on the sidelines bored shitless. I’ve seen it time and time again.

Last year (yr6) My dd was off sick for one day when the parts were given out and the teacher forgot her completely. She ended up just sitting at the back of the choir, not on the stage at all. She told me the part she would have liked, but the teacher never even bothered to ask her.

Bad teaching. Lazy teaching.

I’m so glad she has left primary now.

Thank fuck I don’t have to sit through anymore boring bloody plays. The same kids dominating them for 7 yrs running. It’s like they push their favourite kids in your face and you have to sit and admire them. Its so cringeworthy.