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).

I was also going to suggest something along these lines, if the names in the hat is a non starter. It's not perfect - performing a visible acts of merit, and having someone to nominate you for it, is still going to be easier to achieve for some children than others - but it's a lot closer to being inclusive than an essay writing competition, which is a truly terrible idea.

No worries, it is just oddly complicate to find a way that lets as many kids as possible have a chance, while appeasing the committee (Who ultimately give up time, money and energy to make the day happen so pissing them off would just mean the day doesn't happen at all!)
It has come up in the past but now one member has 4 grandkids living in the village but at school outside it seems like saying "yeah that is annoying but this is the simplest and least controversial way" isn't going to work!

Just put names in the hat of the 'good' kids who deserve the chance of a reward.

It's interesting everyone is so against the essay idea. One of the villages near us use this (but only open to kids in the primary school in that village) and they seem content with it, though I do see the flaws.
One of the committee members is a teacher at the local school and thinks it could be a project the whole class do, so a teaching opportunity as it happens. Then other kids could also submit.

Honestly I think it's a whole lot more stress than I care to deal with but the Gala Day is in June so we would like to get the allocation method sorted ASAP.

Who would decide who the good kids are?

Frankly, the whole thing sounds barmy.

You're trying to create a semblance of a meritocracy when all of the evidence suggests a meritocracy is impossible to achieve.

An essay-writing contest is a great way to judge who's the best (or whose parents are best) at writing essays. It's not a great way to find a Queen.

Of course, the only reasonable way to find a Queen is through a blood line.

And what about the boys?

At this stage I'd just set them up in a Hunger Games style arena and let them battle it out rather than deal with all the commitee drama (and the absolute hell of reading loads of kids essays). I live in a similar sounding Cotswolds village so I do get it and you have my sympathies. You must have the patience of a saint.
Honestly, I don't know what I'd do. Quit probably.

It’s a tradition, so do it traditionally.The people who want a different festival can organise one, that will be nice, then you can have two Galas ( or seven, or however many the non traditionalists want to organise )

🧑‍🎤

Is there a fixed number of places? If it's 30 as an example, why not allocate say 20 to the school who have always been allowed to choose based on merit/behaviour and then make 10 places available for others, maybe with an unspoken rule that say 5 are from the private school and 5 are from the Sen school etc?

This really

Ideally kids should be nominated because they have done something particularly special, overcome adversity, raised a lot of money for charity or some other feat, not just good at essay writing which favours the brightest or those with parents willing to cheat!

So we have the same in our village (not Scotland).
Basically, they have a selection night for the main roles which are similar to yours (but also including a few other ‘Character’ roles that are in the parade each year.
So, for example, the Gala Queen has to be a girl, living in the village who is 12 years old at the time of the event. So all girls who wish to put forward for the role go to the selection evening, introduce themselves and then a couple of lines to the panel about why they want to be that role. The panel then choose.

That’s how we’ve done it here for years, with no complaints so far. Obviously that does take an evening of people’s time but it’s a generally enjoyable evening.

It’s a shame that kids who come from disadvantaged homes are being excluded because their parents don’t participate or contribute. The whole process sounds like one of favouritism towards any child or relation of the committee. The OP doesn’t seem to want to take on board any suggestions. God forbid that a child gets chosen who doesn’t fit her perfect little profile.

So there are 5 roles. It would be impossible to say school gets to pick 3 of these, SEN school 1, private school 1. As some years no kids in the village go to the SEN School or the Private School, plus the catholic schools and kids at random other schools.

I don't think we can logistically involve other schools, it's too unpredictable as to which schools have village kids each year.

This year we know for sure there is one child at private school and one at the catholic school, but this is only as members of the committee know these children.

Just keep the system as it is. The village school and the village gala have a longstanding history together. Preserve this tradition. If you want to do something for children at other schools to participate, look at creating new tradition that includes them.

We have a huge gala court - king and queen, ladies in waiting, pages, flower girls. Main roles are P7, other roles to P5 & 6 I think. Names in a hat, draw done on Facebook live by organising committee. Think most parents secretly relieved if their child’s not chosen as there’s an automatic expectation that if your child is a member of the court that you’ll go big on decorating your house, but that’s balanced by everyone loving the honour of their child being part of the court if their name comes out the hat. Names of those wanting to be in the draw go to the gala committee so any child could be involved regardless of school, although not sure if there are any that live in the village and don’t go to the local school. Everyone seems to accept it is a lottery and everyone joins in the day regardless.

Who decides who deserves the honour now?

Gosh that is a lot of kids. We have always stuck to 5, but the committee takes on the cost of dresses for the girls and kilts etc. for the boys. We also decorate the houses, the only expectation from the parents is having them ready on the day.

I will suggest a random draw but I think it will be a flat no. The only thing the majority seem to have agreed on is it being a reward of some sort as the committee takes on a lot of the financial strain and it seems fair that the honour is a reward.

There is a town near us with a larger Gala Party, but they use the Secondary School (I think the top performing S2's) and some younger kids (I believe 2 P3s from each of the primary schools and 2 P7s).

I'm not personally fussed on any method, school, random draw etc. but others are a lot more passionate.

The head teacher at the local school, so it would just be the same as it is now with only kids at the local school able to be chosen. I'm fine with that personally but it doesn't help the deadlock at all!

I like this idea, though I'm not sure it is anymore inclusive than an essay or similar as it will favour the kids who are able to best articulate why they wanted and are best at public speaking. Does sound a lot more enjoyable than reading 30 odd essays by 11/12 year olds though!

I still think we would need an impartial (as much as can be) panel though, as obviously committee members would be inclined to pick the kids of their friends and family.

Can you let the other schools know to nominate a selected few, based on merit, then the committee looks at all the nominations and vote? I think that would be fair. If you get 3 nominations from each school, then the panel decides.

Sounds cliquey to me at present. Invite those girls of age interested in becoming Queen, in the area to enter their names and draw from a hat. Having a child involved might encourage those who don't normally assist to take part.

If you go for the selection evening you could have a diverse selection panel with votes to score favourite to not favourite and the winner being amalgamated from those.

That would minimise favouritism as much as poss

You could also weight a score for a child +1 if the child has a disadvantage in some way.

Hell no don't go giving some kids an advantage at the start. Can you imagine the rows. 😁

I think a diverse committee could work but I'm not sure any of us have the authority to decide who is and isn't disadvantaged.

I still see favouritism at play though, the proposed committee so far is

• Minister & Ministers wife
• Head Teacher
• Rep from the local secondary school
• Head of the Gala Committee
• Owner of the local pub (very active in the community, does free meals for those in need at christmas, arranges litter picks, does lots of the fundraising for the Gala)

The current head teacher lives in the village, she has lived here her whole life and is very active in the community, she also goes to the local church.

If we take the granddaughter who is at private school, who's family happen to be some of the few with kids who still go to church, and have Sunday lunch in the pub every week and are friends with the headteacher, I could easily see minister and ministers wife, pub owner, headteacher and head of the committee all putting her first just based on knowing her family well. I'd hope they wouldn't play favourites but it's a village and favouritism seems imbedded into the blood of this place.