DS one of six in his class not included in Infant (Y2) Music Festival

[marthamuffin]

Bear with me here, I'm not a neurotic parent. Honestly.

They have been rehearsing this for weeks, seriously for about 2 months. The parents were invited to the dress rehearsal yesterday. I went along and ds was there, up on stage, singing his heart out and having a whale of a time. So today was the big day with children from other schools invited and the mayor there as well. I asked ds how it went and he said "Oh, I had to stay behind in class and do colouring". When I ferreted more info out of him in a casual way, it turns out that 6 in his class out of 30 had to stay behind. I asked why and he claims his teacher told him 5 weeks ago that his singing wasn't good enough. He is more bothered by the fact that the majority who participated got biscuits and cola afterwards and he wasn't allowed any. To be honest I am a bit This is an uber competitive school who are very protective of their position in the league tables. They have just won an award for their arts curriculum but at the expense of the minority? I am a Montessori teacher so I do know a bit about how schools work and I am horrified. AIBU? I feel really hacked off that he has been made to practice and practice but was not allowed to join in - if his singing is so dreadful couldn't they have found something else for him to do, like bashing a triangle, instead?

Our school has gold artsmark and a brilliant choir which includes a substantial number of children from the nursery and reception classes. I was privileged to see them sing at a biglocal festival of choirs, at which they were the ONLY children's choir invited to perform. The little ones were standing out in front singing their hearts out but also fidgeting and occasionally lifting up their skirts to show the audience their knickers - the teacher didn't mind a bit and nor did the audience. I would really want a serious talk with the school about inclusion if I were in your situation, what the teacher did was totally unacceptable, and, as Blu said, not at all in the spirit of Artsmark.

I think that is really awful, your poor ds
I would try and speak to the parents of the other 5 kids who were excluded and get them alongside too, I'm sure they can't be too happy about it!
If they didn't want him to sing he could have done something else, surely??

I'd certainly be having a meeting with the teacher about this - and if no satisfactory reasons are forthcoming I'd be writing to the Head with a copy to the chair of governors. Sounds like really bad practice. I'm not saying that it's not good to differentiate or that children who excel eg in singing, should not be given the opportunity - it's how they've gone about it that's bad; they needed to provide a proper option for the other kids, that they gain something from, not just "i wasn't good enough so I had to stay behind"

And I have to say, this school sound unbelievably precious and pretentious - we're talking INFANT singing here after all! It should be about having fun together.

i hesitate to say it but is it possible the six who were exluded were being distruptive in some way? It just seems so odd that they would be included in the rehearsals but left out on the day; I can see it being used as a consequence IYSWIM....though I guess nothing has been said to you? So I guess I'm just clutching at straws!

What happened did you talk to anyone?

Poor little boy. That must have hurt.

As a music teacher I am angry about any one telling a 6 year old that his singing isn't good enough. The school is there to teach your child. How is he going to learn if he isn't allowed to participate? All he is going to learn from this is that he "can't sing" - a misconception that may stay with him for ever after. Not many 6 year olds sing perfectly and this is just the time when they start to improve - if you let them.