Roles in school play / nativity etc

[DragonflyInn]

Could any teachers / TAs etc answer a question? Do schools tend to keep a note of which children have had parts in the class assembly /play etc?

Year 3 dd is very upset about not getting a part in her school play. Of course we're trying to help her put it into perspective, learn a life lesson and understand that not everyone can have the acting parts etc. But she keeps asking why it's never her - every year (and they do a performance thing twice a year) she's part of the 'crowd' people etc, sometimes 1 line as a narrator but no actual part.

I totally get that teachers will probably look to certain children who they think will be best able to handle the parts, but it just made me wonder whether her teacher this year can see which children had the parts in year 2, year 1 etc and try to spread it out a bit or whether it's a unique decision each year without any knowledge of previous years?

My school do. But generally the louder and more confident children get the biggest parts year after year

If your school have another school play/performance coming up, I think she needs to speak up.

Did they audition? Our school are very diplomatic with the infants, and try to give as many children as possible a good named part of they want one. They had one character played by three different children over the course of the same play last time. But as it gets higher up the school it does become more about who's good at singing/speaking clearly. I wouldn't give my DS a main part myself even, he barely pronounces any consonants and breaks parts off his costumes.

Thanks all for taking the time to reply. No, no auditions. Just writing down on a bit of paper if they wanted a part.

Thanks Irvine. Perhaps she does need to speak up - knowing her it's possible the teacher doesn't realise how much she wants this.

nepotism and favouritism seem to play a big part in our school. Same kids every time.

I didn't mean not give them a part at all miaow. The whole year get a speaking part at DC's school, even if they're crowd. Every other year, so year 1 are chorus and year 2 speak, year 3 are chorus and year 4 speak etc. It's the main parts with lots of lines and singing solos that get more auditioned. I think that's fair enough.

I doubt many schools do look much beyond that year.
If you did note who'd had parts though you'd get into a whole realm of other issues.
Child A had 2 lines in year 3, however they really grew in confidence over year 4 and now in year 5 have the ability to take the main part. But should they give it to Child C, who has never had a line at all, but really struggles with confidence and probably will be horrified, although their mum has been in every year to complain.
Then you have Child D's mum coming in saying she doesn't want the one line part she's been given, clearly because she thinks if she refuses it this year she's on for a top part next year. If she takes the one line part then she knows she'll be non-speaking next year.
And Child E who only arrived a month before in year 6, does she count as never having had a part at all, although she told you she had the top part in her last school every time.
And Child F, who didn't have a part last year, but ended up taking over one of the main parts on the day before last year due to chickenpox, and did very well. Does that count as their part, because half the fun is the rehearsals?

I think though it slightly depends on what other opportunities there are. When I was at school we did 2 assemblies a year that pretty much everyone would have something to say even if it was only "have you anything to say Mr. Headmaster" at the end, plus the Christmas show which everyone was in. There was then also the Easter Eisteddfod that was done as a house competition (you said poems or played musical instruments) and pretty much everyone entered something, and also included a play done by year 5 and a play by year 6. And then the summer plays done by year 5 and 6.
I don't remember much fuss about parts because there was always the feeling there was another one coming.

Now my dc do one assembly a year. Generally done by line of children holding microphone and spouting one fact each about a topic.
And one Christmas show per year group. (Which honestly is dire. They did try one year doing the same format as assembly. One fact per child. With 150+ children and not arranged in order of who was speaking the parents spent most of the time watching the confusion as the microphone being passed around while the children bob up and down trying to work out who should have it next.
Normally they now have a play using about 15 children and the rest sit at the back and sing a few songs. Almost all the children look totally bored, including those with parts.)

But when a child doesn't have a part, then they know they've got to wait a whole year for another remote chance of having a part, so it takes on greater significance.
They do officially audition for the parts. However I'm not sure actually how much notice they take really as there's some children I've seen out of school and they're good who never get parts at all.

I’m not a teacher or TA, but my guess is that they don’t keep a record and pass this on from year to year. I think it’d be a good idea if they did, but I’m sure they are overrun with other record keeping.

My DD’s school is a one form entry school, and they have a class play for each of R, Y1, Y2 (and joint plays between Y3 and Y5, and Y4 and Y6). DD was Mary in Reception, which was not a big part (everyone had a line or two) but I suppose it was a ‘high profile’ part. When she was in Y1 I therefore suggested to her that she didn’t put her hand up for a big part. In Y2 she did want and get the big part, after a short audition between the three girls that were keen to do it. When she’s in Y3 I will discourage her from being ambitious, because she really had by far the biggest part in Y2 and I, for one, would be embarrassed if it happened again the following year!

I do agree that everyone should have a part, if they want one, that is suited to the child. However, you can’t blame the teachers for giving the main parts to the children who have an excellent attendance record, learn their lines, speak clearly/sing well, and enjoy the limelight.

I don't think our school keep records of past as well. But it must be so demotivating for quieter children who actually can shine but never gets to show it.
Like I said up thread, I really think your dd should tell her teacher what she wants to do, or if she is too shy, you may need to mention it to the teacher. It may be a chance for her to be more confident and start shining among others.
I think there's nothing wrong to mention her disappointment to the teacher(but I think it's better to come from dd since she is old enough, maybe it shows teacher that she is capable too, by expressing her feeling), and I think any decent teacher would take it as positive thing.

Definitely needs to speak up.
My dd was forever complaining about not being given speaking parts. When I spoke to the teacher about this issue, she pointed out that my dd did not audition for any speaking part.
It usually the louder

If she really longs to do this, an alternative might be an after school drama club. My daughter isn’t even at school yet and is about to appear in her first big show. Our older daughter has decided to go along too now. They get excellent quality teaching and much more time to rehearse than for a school play. I realise extra effort, but I think it is tricky being teachers - they aren’t casting experts for starters.

Thank you. I'll encourage her to speak to her teacher and will also look into a drama club. I think our local theatre group does something for youngsters which could be ideal actually.

I was due to play Mary when i was 4 I was so excited, i then got appendicitis and was in hospital so never got to play it. I was never picked again, not even the following year!

School plays are a minefield.

my dc came home upset they had 1 line, and the main parts were given to the same children as the year before.

They had auditioned, and my dc had "shone" in a little dance the character did and no-one else could get their head around it so that was the part they gave my dc...even though the teachers agreed they could have done more lines. dc came home a few days later saying they had been given a few extra lines to say.

they give the bigger parts to the most confident kids, they don't want a shy kid to get the main part because they will be traumatised. if your daughter wants a bigger part I recommend she asks herself.

I work in ks1
Our Christmas performance always has year 2 as the main characters.
This year 18 out of 60 year 1’s got to say a line and the ones who didn’t have a line were split into groups of 6-10 to be a shepherd sheep donkey king villager and do a dance during the related song.
We worked v hard to not only take into account the idea of those who wanted to take part but also those who had demonstrated confidence in speaking up in class activities.
We have 2 girls who do drama outside school and yet can’t bring themselves to read their work out when they have done something fabulous. We couldn’t choose them.

And this is where primary education falls over. Reinforce the confidence of the confident (teacher’s pets and alphas) and undermine the confidence of the others . Why not write the play where they ALL say something, in a group, in twos, with an older child...whatever but break the ice...I’d laugh whenever the head stood up and said the ‘ that was amazing platitudes ‘ about the exact same kids every year and think to myself that ‘ amazing ‘ would actually be to find a voice for the child that needed that support.

lamplight that’s where we as parents should try and complement what school can do. I encourage mine to do sports/ drama / music outside school for this reason.

I don’t think they keep records at our school. They do have a good system of listening to the children though - they all have to audition and get asked if they want a small, medium or large part and the teacher makes it work.

That said, I do get a bit annoyed with other posters who say it’s always the teachers pet or favourite that gets the main part. My daughter works professionally and she is good. She doesn’t get picked for the sports team, isn’t that great at art, is Bright but not so she gets recognised for it, alright at music but not rocking amazing grades. Why shouldn’t she get the opportunity to be recognised for what she is good at?

We have a KS1 performance all Y2 children have a Speaking part so over a two year cycle every child gets a turn. We usually ask children what they were last year and what they want to be this year and do our best to accommodate.

My kids had completely rubbish parts every single year. I never heard of the pivotal role of fucking shrubbery in the nativity until they went to primary school... but would you believe it.... They each managed to land that part every bloody year. Not a typo... fucking SHRUBBERY. I wouldn't hold out hope that anyone gives a shit about spreading the opportunity out for good parts...

Dds I presume had some form of rotation going on. But one child always got a good role and more than one parent mistakenly thought it was yet another case of the confident, loud favourite getting a big part every year.

What they didn't know is that this was the one thing this child could achieve at, and was genuinely talented at. Being brutally realistic, said child will never achieve highly at anything else, and won't ever develop the additional skills needed to be good at drama an older age. And faced/ will face difficulties the majority won't ever do. So I think it's far more important a child like that gets their one moment in primary plays, than dividing it up equally.