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).

Could the submissions be anonymised before being put before the panel?

I would leave it as local primary. It includes enough of the local children and works.

An additional maid for children outside of the school to be selected for might be helpful.

My first thought on this was "poor buggers", given the lobbying they'd instantly get from parents wanting it to be their child, though looking on the bright side at least they'd probably be okay for volunteers for a while

I'm another who'd favour the names in a hat, though I hear you about many not wanting it, but you'll get toxicity no matter what you do so beyond a certain point I'd simply step back and leave them to it

I suggest a day-long paper-scissors-rock tournament.

Also, God protect us from People Who Volunteer To Organise Community Activities.

Why not have the head teacher pick four kids, and nominate a fifth. The non-school kids can get nominated by an unrelated adult for some good works etc, then the fifth place is chosen from a hat from the nominated kids & fifth school kid.

The focus on history and essay writing favours those with better access to education (and is a bit boring!). If you open it to something like 'what I like about our village' or 'our village in the future' you could invite posters, photo diaries, drawings, poems, videos, voice recordings, short essays.....and judge for imaginative ideas as well as execution. All entries could be displayed at the gala, which discourages favouritism in choosing, and is nice for all entrants. Otherwise I'd go for names in a hat, but boys and girls mixed together.

The problem with judging achievement nominations is that the judges would know some applicants but not others (favouritism) or would be basing judgements on the quality of the adult's nomination (unfair).

That is very derogatory to people who aren’t rich. Why can’t ordinary children record a speech, draw a picture, do a dance, or show their skills in football, or give an idea for the village? Do you think people who aren’t affluent can’t do that?

You seriously don't see how families with money do classes and gain skills that those without don't? Show off your ballet, your piano playing, your whatever....the kids from the council flats are far less likely to have any of those things.

And that's not to mention how the showing off your skills excludes the less able bodied, the kids with special needs etc

Could it be some kind of coloring competition? You could put sheets in the local businesses in the village. You could allocate different roles via different age slots.

Ha. I knew this would be SW Scotland. My town's the same. The towns that have a Common Riding where everyone rides hell-for-leather round the boundaries are luckier. People might occasionally get killed but at least they don't have diplomatic dilemmas like this.

Opening up the competition to allow children from other schools is a wonderful idea. To make it fully inclusive, I would allow children to submit their entry in any format they feel confident in - a drawing, video of a performance, a written essay or poem, a CV of their community activities such as litter picking or helping an elderly neighbour with their shopping.

The kids will surprise you with their imaginations and it will be delightful. You could even make an exhibition of entries so even the kids who do t get chosen get their efforts displayed for the community to appreciate.

Nomination from each school etc and then a small community to decide.

Important thing is that committee member who has grandkid in private school does not get a vote as it’s a clear conflict of interest. Only these with no eligible kids or grand kids should be allowed to decide.

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Hat picking without any caveat is obviously the fairest solution - the idea of some children being weeded out for being 'unworthy' doesn't sit particularly well with me, although I do understand why they want kids who will carry out the role properly.

If the committee are so determined that it should be a reward, I would ask to specify what they are being 'rewarded,' for, exactly. Currently it seems to be 'rewarded' for who they know, or for being of a particular religion. Essentially it does seem that children going to the Catholic school have been denied an opportunity because of their faith, and children to the additional needs school because of their disabilities which is....problematic. Not to mention the kids written off by the community at the age of 11 as being troublemakers. I think if the committee ever had to document their rationale, (are minutes produced of the meetings?) seeing some of these things put down in writing would cause a few eyebrows to raise.

how about anyone who wants to do it has to be recommended by someone else (can't be a relative) with a short paragraph about why - if it's supposed to be a 'reward' then it should be something they've done to help the village in someway. Being good at dancing or football or piano or getting top grades or whatever doesn't actually benefit the village so why would that need to be rewarded? It should be its own reward, and as others have said, can be the result of money for coaching more than innate talent and hard work.

The fact that the rec comes from adults (and should be very short and fact based rather than an emotive sob story) should negate the 'smarter/privately educated' kids are at an advantage in essay writing element.

Committee weeds through them and picks out the best ten, then THEY go into a hat, so there is both community input but also fairness.

YANBU but the proposal is just swapping one form of discrimination for another. Better would be to scrap the criteria and have a random draw for anyone who wants to enter.

The whole thing has Wicker Tree vibes though.

When I grew up in a Scottish village in the 80s, it was the prettiest girl from P7 who would be chosen! I know live in England. Our town's carnival committee has a competition open to all year 6s. They interview the entrants and basically look for good manners, kindness and good people skills. I think that's the best criteria.
In the case of Op's village, I think the dgm must remove herself from the committee.

the committee is made mainly of older women In the village who definitely wouldn't like it at all.

Have you asked them? 'Older women' can be quite egalitarian, you know.

^ Yes this is a good idea. Also, how about the other children - say, the teens who are often 'too old' for this kind of stuff - doing the picking/voting, not the adults?

That's not fully inclusive, is it?

As a lover of anonymous city life, this sounds both fascinating and hideous!

OP, you need to ask Jackie Weaver. She will have the answer.

Out of interest, how often does a kid from a disadvantaged group win? Be that through disability, ethnic minority, socioeconomic deprivation etc. I would love to hear!

What in the Midsomer Murders is this 😂

Joking aside, there’s some good suggestions here

In our Welsh village, there’s usually a craft entry or baking of some sort based on age of the child

But most of those are usually enthusiastically “helped” by the parents anyway

Interesting question.
Our village is extremely lacking in diversity, in the whole primary school right now (I volunteer here several times a week), I can only think of 1 child who isn't white British, when my children were there, there was one child a few years below. So as far as I know it has never been a child from an ethnic minority.
Disability, last year one of the maids had arthritis and often used a wheelchair, we have had a few autistic kids over the years too.
Socioeconomic deprivation, well the village isn't exactly rich, lots of kids are from low socioeconomic backgrounds, for example in the year my DD was Gala Queen, both the maids lived in council houses as children of single parent low income families. It's hard to evaluate how often this happens though as we aren't privy to each families personal circumstances and you can't make assumptions.

Thanks. Of course you can’t create ethnic diversity if it isn’t there!

So the maids have been played by physically disabled and autistic and low income children. How about the gala queen?