to think that 'Disney' is a strange topic for a pre-school to choose

[mynameisbond]

for half a term my ds's pre-school's topic will be 'disney'. Each week they are having a different Disney film as the focus, starting with Toy Story. The stuff that they have told us they are doing within the topic sounds fine, eg self portraits in the 'mirror mirror on the wall' mirror and weighing diamonds from the seven dwarves mine. I just think that it's a bit of a weird topic to pick.

well from september they wont be doing topics anymore with the EYFS so rest assure it wont be forever

It does seem a bit strange but then again I suppose it is a topic most pre-school children will have heard of!! Seems like a good way to get them interested in weighing etc and most of the films do have an underlying message. Then again its also a good way to stick on a dvd and call it topic work so I would keep an eye out that they are not spending forever watching tv this half term too!!

Would you have preferred the novels of Steven King?

What's EYFS? Sounds painful. The thing is my ds hasn;'t got a clue about disney. He has only seen cinderella. He's only three. He would probably pass out at the evil stepmother in Snow White. Or that bit in Toy Story with the dismembered bits of toy under the bed..... They haven't said that they are going to do any TV watching.

I work in a playgroup and find this a very strange topic to have . When we had a sort out of dressing up clothes we actually got rid of a lot of the Disney dresses as we felt that it didn't really do much for the kids imagination when they dress up in Bella costume and say 'Oh I'm Bella' .

what about topics like - People who help us , minibeast , wild animals, farm animals, dinsoaurs , our bodies , our familes, where we live etc etc .

I think shows a bit of lack of imagination I'm afraid .

I would ask what else are the children going to learn ? You can do self portraits when you cover 'Bodies' for example. Weighing can be used whne you have sand / water play aswell .

Very strange topic .

No I was pushing for serial killers through the ages. I thought they could dig up and identify body parts, junk model body carrying devices and do an introduction to geography with the locations that bodies were found.

Sorry for being glib

Agree with OFSTED that alot of them have anice moral message - Cars for example. My DS (7) did a project on Walt Disney himself at school as part of a 'People in History' thingy. He's also not very familiar with the stories - particularly the older ones which we have on video but not DVD iyswim.

I suppose alot of people have issues with Disney for a whole host of reasons and i think if i were running a pre school it wouldn't be my first topic of choice for that reason alone.

Surely the works of Chekhov would be preferable

yes captain underpants those are exactly the sorts of topics I would have expected. And you are right that they are just going to flounce around recreating the stories too. I hadn't even thought of that!

you could cover some of the stories by doing the original fairy stories too i suppose.

Yes they could and I think that if they had said they were having fairy stories for their topic I wouldn't have thought that was weird. But they haven't.

Fairy stories - fine
Disney - odd

I think it seems a good way to get the children interested.

My ds is 4 and I don't think she would be more interested in the works of Disney than she would be in minibeasts or our bodies and stuff. She loves fairy tales but hasn't seen any of the disney films as she gets scared easily!

Children will be interested in any topic if you put your mind to it and made it interesting and suitable for their age and ability.

I dont think Disney is a suitabel topic for preschoolers and is a bit of a cop out by the staff.

I agree that some children may love fairy tales and have an interest in that - well arrange the topic about Fairy tales and not Disney.

Disney didn't invent Fairy Tales !

How odd-personally wouldn't be impressed as I'd have my 3 pre-schoolers badgering me to see all the films they hadn't seen (probably most of them).

Also my lot are petrified of Snow White (as are most of their friends)I really don't think it is at all suitable for pre-schoolers at all. The witch and stabbing dagger action is fine for older kids but not pre-schoolers, I'd check they're not planning on showing it to the kids.

One of my twins is also terrified of the shark in Nemo and Sid in Toy Story -we've given up for a few months watching anymoretoo many family dvd sessions ending in hysteria. I'll admit he can be a bit of a scardy cat but he's 4 so allowed to be and he isn't the only one amongst his friends.

There are sooo many other lovely topics they could be doing, I'd be mighty pissed off if I was paying for the sessions.

Yes I am going to make sure that he is not going to see the actual films there not only because I think that he would be scared but also because I am paying. I was unsure if I should say something really as I don't want to look like a middle class killjoy.

I'd be livid. I was angry enough when I found out that the nursery my daughter is at was showing films over the course of a few days. This would just take the biscuit.

I don't think its appropriate for preschool. It implys that the kids should all be familiar with those stories/films already. Which stories are they covering? Some of them are more appropriate than others. Toy story and cars aren't even U, they are PG. Some of the ones which are U are still very scary. And then there is all the related products that they might not have been interested before.

I would be really annoyed. I am not a fan of Disney and the last thing that I would expect a pre-school to do is to create peer pressure for my DD to watch them. What next - measuring liquids with Coca cola?

I would be annoyed too. As a parent, you should be able to decided when you want your children to be exposed to disney movies. You might want to save them until they are old enough to really enjoy them. I wouldn't want my 2 yo asking if she can watch toy story because she recognises it from preschool.

No that's it, I don't want him knowing who farking Ariel is until I say so I didn't know that Toy Story is a PG either. And that is what they are doing first! Bollocks. What should I do? Do I say something and risk making a prat of myself. They aren't going to change all of their planing for little ole me and they might think I am being a bit b=highly strung.

Put the feelers out with the other parents - casually bring it into converstaion at pickup or drop off. If they have the same feelings then say or write a letter to the setting saying 'I dont wish to make a complaint but ...'

Settings hate having formal complaints it all has to be regsitered and Ofsted get to see it when they inspect .

Yes I do need to sound out the other parents. Surely they must think it's a bit odd too.