School play....why do auditions???

[Schoolmum2468]

It's school play season AGAIN...and again the same old story happening again. (3x DC...always the same story)

I told DH weeks ago when we found out the play who would be given which parts. And low and behold....I was correct.

And my DC has come home in tears because they weren't given any of the parts they auditioned for. Even the extra part the teacher asked them to audition for

The child who told mine not to bother going for part A because it was their part...yup got the part

The pushy parents child got the main part (AGAIN!!!)

"Shy" children who have now come out of their shells now they're the eldest in the school.... literally background scenery.

My DC's friend is also upset because they wanted a speaking part and got 1 short line "no way" type of thing

My DC wanted an acting part and got narrator (again). They've been told in the past that it's because they're a good reader....but now in yr6 after years of being narrator (both in end of year plays and Xmas nativities) they thought for the last play in primary they would try really hard to get an acting part.

So what is the point of asking children which part they want and going through auditions if teachers are going to ignore all that and just chose who they want.

And why not give other children a little bit of a chance in the spotlight if they want it. Chances are the shyer ones are going to be even more lost in secondary and this may be their last chance. It's a school play....why not add lines for children who want them. It's primary school not a theatre production!!!

If any teachers can explain why they do this year upon year....please enlighten me.

@SirChenjins, I am guessing that we are at a similar stage of life with grown up children so that we are looking back at the madness. I agree with every word you have written, especially your last post.

Did the egg and spoon race reference give my age away?!

Mid fifties here with adult children - I am so grateful the days of the school productions are behind me.

Yes, DS1 is thrilled to bits to be going to a secondary with a really rich drama curriculum and extra-curricular programme; drama at his primary is very poor and as you say used as a teaching 'tool' and a means to learn the English curriculum in a very haphazard and inconsistent way rather than being treated as a valuable skill in its own right.

Ours still does egg and spoon! Coming from an Australian education where sport was sport from the get go, the novelty races always half charm me and half bemuse me.

That’s brilliant your school still does it! My rural primary used to get the hessian sacks for the sack race from the local farmer - they still had bits of animal feed on them which would horrify some parents nowadays!

Please be aware that this is the fault of the government rather than the school. They basically have no choice but to teach it the way the government dictates.

One of the many reasons I am looking for a route out of teaching ASAP.

I find it incredible how many of you on here seem to know how the majority of primary schools are. How is it you have such a breadth of experience with such a wide range of primary schools? Do you all have 1000 children who attend different schools? The amount of sweeping 'this is how primary schools are' type statements...🙄Or could it possibly be that you have a bee in your bonnet (and possibly justifiably so) about your child's primary school and how it approached things like school plays and, as a result of that, are tarring the vast majority of primary schools with the same brush. As someone who's always gone out of her way to try to be fair as a teacher, the kind of sweeping statements on many of these posts are very aggravating.