Village Gala Day Drama

[Bronniel]

I live in a small Scottish Village, every year there is a Gala Day, I imagine it is similar to a Village Fete in England, but basically It is a lot of local businesses, food vans, live music and some little rides for the kids in the local park, with a parade around the village and a fancy dress competition, it is fairly popular. Also a lot of other events in the village on the weekend surrounding it and competitions for the kids.
Every year there is a Gala Queen, plus some other big roles like crown bearer, maids etc. Basically the Queen gets crowned to kick the day off and prior to that leads the parade in a horse and carriage. It's all very much set in tradition but still popular and the kids enjoy it.
Traditionally the Gala Queen and the rest of the Gala party has been selected by the primary school in the village, and consists of P7s, the head teacher picks them and they are chosen based on behaviour/attainment etc. throughout the year. My own kids viewed it as quite a bit accolade to be chosen and it seems like a big deal to the kids. This method though has had its controversies as obviously not every child in the Village attends the village school with some going to other schools for various reasons and others going to say the catholic school or occasionally the odd who does the 30+ minute commute to a private school, it also excludes any kids who attend the schools for additional needs as these aren't in the village. However it has always been the primary schools pick.
I am on the Gala Committee and this year there is a push to change the allocation method, basically to some sort of system where any Primary 7 aged child who lives in the village or surrounding farms/one hamlet where all the kids also go to the local school, would be able to enter. The top ideas right now are some sort of essay writing competition or a competition where kids submit "evidence of excellence" be it a video of a dance they have learnt, art they have done, sports awards etc. The essay seems to be the popular choice but some fear that it will mean just the smartest kids get the chance to be part of it. It's said that either the committee would pick or we could get some locals to pick (so a panel of maybe the head teacher, the minister at the local church etc). The idea for the essay writing competition is they would write an essay on the history of the village or something similar.

However the issue is, this same year one of the most vocal members of the Gala Committee has a grandchild who is in Primary 7, but at a private school, so wouldn't be eligible under the historical system as despite living in the village, doesn't attend the local school. About half of the committee are against any changes as it is set in tradition and they feel the change is purely to benefit this members grandchild and future grandchildren. They also feel that it is unfair to ask the children of the local state school, many from lower income backgrounds to compete against private school kids on either the essay front or the hobby front. Others feel it is a necessary change as the days of all the kids going to the local school are over, and lots of the kids at the local school aren't from the village now.

It is creating quite the divide and a lot of upset so I'm looking to see what others think as we seem to be in a deadlock.

So
YABU - The traditional method should stay
YANBU - Time to update so all the kids in the village can be involved

(I know this seems trivial but it is the source of many a head ache for me right now and it is the height of village drama for our sleepy little place).

Great idea to open it up.

I would leave it open to a submission of any kind from any child in the village. It could be a video, essay, short story, anything! That way each submission can be reviewed based in its own merit and a choice made of who’s most ‘excelled’. That way, a child from the special needs school could be considered on an entirely different basis than a child from a private school.

I would organise an activity morning for all the children interested in being chosen. Obviously they need a village postcode.
If they don’t turn up for the activity morning then they’re not considered.
At the end of the morning the organisers will have formed an opinion of the children regarding how they interact with each other, if they’re more suited to a supporting role, if they can sit still when necessary or are they too easily distracted or chatterboxes.
Then the organisers have a discussion afterwards and notify the parents of who is chosen.

That's discriminatory.

it might already have been said, but I do agree that if a substantial number of children do not go to the village school then there should be a means of eligibility. Essay writing or projects is just bollocks though and will exclude too many.

what about a separate route linked to benefitting the village - what volunteering activities could be arranged? Eg village clean up/ joining a village choir to sing at the local old people’s home, whatever it is that can be linked to the village, and not take too much time out of a busy family’s schedule. Then those participants can also be eligible.

You said it much better!

Tell that to.yhw children that can never win. To the dyslexic kids who won't ever win your essay writing contest, for a start.
Tough luck kid, we don't care about you, it's just life. You're not allowed a level playing field.

I also feel that it shouldn’t be based on excellence, especially not academic excellence or art or sport. What relevance do these things have really outwith what career they might end up with? They’ve nothing to do with the sort of person someone is. Someone who is kind or has shown courage or helped others would be better but I’m not sure how you’d choose. Maybe if a child wants to be put themselves forward they go it a central place, put their name in along with a testimony from someone close to them about something really kind/brave/helpful they’ve done?
I also agree it should be open to all children.

All I can say is the essay is batshit and bonkers and exclusive. Plus you can guarantee the essay will be written by a pushy, helicopter and not the child.

Missing the point completely but I’m intrigued. I live in a “small Scottish village” and in the south west, our primary school is so small it would need that the whole of P7 and probably 1/2 of P6 to make up a Gala Party”😀. We wouldn’t have enough in the population to even have a more than 1 committee with different member on it, this is a a huge event to organise for a “ small” village”. Secondly as far as I’m aware there are no private school in the whole region the only person who I know who send their DC to a private school travels to Carlisle.
Anyway coming back to the OP original post as I’m sure you’re probably becoming increasingly aware village politics are always complicated (particularly in a small village) and IME village committees are dominated by a a few vocal people who sit on every committee and take the view it’s their way or no way and whatever you or anyone else suggests is going to upset someone who’s view will be it’s “not fair” personally I’d just keep with the old system.

Having sat on several committees in my life, I share your pain! It can often be frustrating and you wonder why you are bothering! Proposed changes are often met with suspicion and the lament, "But we've always done it that way!"

Unless every child who wants to take part in the Gala Day gets a role, it will never be fair and somebody is always going to be disappointed, no matter how the lucky few are selected. Since there is more than one role available, consider having one child chosen from the local school, one to be the winner of an art competition, one name pulled out of the hat and so on. The Gala Queen and other roles could be chosen via a secret vote of the committee and local dignitaries.

Just remember the saying, "You can please some of the people some of the time, but never all of the people all of the time!"

Couldn’t think of anything worse than having to read 35 essays

Haven't RTFT so apologies if others have already suggested but I would keep it as close to current as possible - so it's based on behaviour/attainment, but kids from other schools can also be entered for consideration by asking their teacher to write a short recommendation.

You could create a form for teachers to complete to make it as easy a task as possible for the teacher e.g. 1) a behaviour rating, 2) an attainment/effort rating, 3) something along the lines of: this honour is reserved for those who have shown themselves to be trustworthy, responsible and who work hard in school. On this basis would you recommend this child for consideration for this position? Y/N. 4) if you have anything you would like to add in support of this nomination please write it here.

The child has to give it to their teacher with an envelope (with a stamp) addressed to a member of the committee who will collate all the 'other school' nominations.

Then you have some kind of panel meeting where the village school headteacher presents their recommendations from their school and the committee member presents the 'other' nominations and a decision is made from them all.

One branch of my family come from a little village where May Day was a huge thing, the big event of the year and people came from the whole area to see it.

In hunting down some photos of my great grandfather (he was on the May Day committee) I found lots of the event itself, from the 1890s/up to WW1. There was always a May Queen (primary aged child) with her attendants. It quickly became obvious that as she always had approx 30+ little girls in this role, all in their best white dresses with flower crowns and sashes, that every single girl of the right age in the village must have been an attendant.

This seemed to me a very lovely way of doing things.

ETA in this crowd of small girls, it is usually pretty much impossible to identify the actual Queen, too!

Don't over complicate things. I work in committee governance and the standard position, where there cannot be agreement, is that the status quo prevails. So stick with what has always happened.

We have a massive Gala day in our village and it’s incredible what people find to complain about so firstly well done for being on the committee in the first place - it’s a thankless job! Ours is a random draw from all P7s who say they want to be considered for a big court role (there’s about 8 big roles) then all others are just in the parade / stage show. I have to say I find the idea of ‘merit’ a bit distasteful in this day and age given it’s essentially then a popularity contest but think your best bet would be open it up to everyone and go with the committee as suggested if random wouldn’t work where you are. Ours is all children in the village but it rare any of the ones not from the school take part.

Someone who has made a significant contribution to the community? Charity, litter picking etc...

But it's not an essay writing competition so why should whether you can write a good essay determine if you're gala queen? The two attributes are completely unrelated.

Why don't you get the different schools to nominate their P7s that are eligible (as in live in village) and then pick from a hat of those nominated.

Sorry but the whole ‘excellence’ thing is so unfair (and so open to corruption!)

when I were a lass the eldest girl in the year was May Queen and the two youngest girls were her attendants. Would something like that work? Either stick to the primary school (as people are choosing not to send their kids there or not, so seems fair) or let people in that school year who live in the village apply and then decide based on DOB. It’s also easier to ‘prove’ than a random ballot which may end up being accused of not being all that random…

I think it should be open to all the kids who live in the neighbourhood not just those who attend the local primary. I would suggest eligibility for Gala Queen/King should be a child who has contributed to the community or been generous in some way. Considering that they are kids, it could just be a small thing like they grit the pavement, put neighbours bins away, gave away old toys etc. Family, teachers and other members of the community could nominate them. It might encourage a bit of community spirit throughout the year and not just for gala week.

Pointless prize in that case. Perhaps the state school should take more time on teaching how to write an essay? A not unimportant skill.

Again, you need community minded parents with the time and resources to involve their children in good works, and to be able bodied.
Not inclusive

i live in a similar Scottish town OP. There is more than one local school. There is rota system for which school picks the queen.

the queen used to be decided by the children voting but is now picked out of a hat to be fair.

the local SEN school is included in this.

private school kids are unfortunately just not included - that is their parents choice if they send them out of the town for school and entirely fair 🤷🏼‍♀️

Many ideas that are being suggested you are rejecting as you “know for a fact” they will “go down like a lead balloon” - but you have not even put these ideas to the committee.

You are now the one gatekeeping what might be possible in the future and holding fast to a tradition. Maybe you in fact prefer the current approach for some reason?

Maybe the committee have not thought laterally about this for many years. Maybe some have the same doubts as you but are fearful to voice new opinions.

Just blame us to get the ideas on the table: say “I asked a lot of people what they thought was reasonable in this situation and unanimously the response was to use a random draw rather than any approach based on some sort of assessment of perceived merit.”

I actually don’t think giving a kid who is behaving roughly a role like Gala Queen is bad. It might be a route for them to see the village from a different perspective.

i think a picture/painting or something would be better than an essay

@TickingAlongNicely I agree. My DGD was Rose Queen at their village fete a few years ago. Several of the villages in their part of England have them. Year 6 girls at the village school were asked to put their names forward if they want to be in the draw, then it’s down to luck, so no feelings of anyone being favoured. There were plenty of other things they could compete at.

They raise money for charity in the year they are chosen. DGD had a toy stall at the village fete, all donated, some pre loved, some new.