December is famous for being one of the busiest months of the year for most families. We are no exception—Christmas plays galore, Christmas parties, fund raising events, church activities, etc… I had to learn to say “no” this year on more than one occasion. Call me strange, but I don’t get into the whole holiday baking frenzy… I have Robert for that-haha. No, really. I had to forego a cookie exchange (I would have had to make ten dozen cookies and then bring home ten dozen cookies of various kinds) and another event of cookie drive for the troops. My biggest problem is not that I don’t like to bake (I did a ton of baking in my teenage years in Ukraine) but it’s the fact that if I bake it, I probably will eat it all…so I try to avoid it. Still, cookies creep into our house from our wonderful neighbors and …Robert baking them. Okay, now you know how I feel about Christmas baking.
And now to the main point of my post. British schools are very different from American schools in terms of how they view religious topics. If in our base school, you don’t really bring up the whole Bible story that is the reason for celebration, in our village school, kids of all ages can freely be taught about baby Jesus, the three wisemen, the star, etc. So this year, Year 3 and Year 4 put on a play in December that was Christmas themed. The plot was quite simple—three stuck up animals (Chuck the Chicken, Cecil the Sheep and Something the Cow)—learn how to be kind and humble when baby Jesus is born in their stable. Kids who wanted to be anything but shepherds, dancing stars or angels had to audition. Of course, Alex, our kid who thrives on being on stage, auditioned singing his favorite song “Hall Of Fame” and got the part of Chuck The Chicken.
Looks a bit more like a duck to me, but whatever.
He learnt all his songs and was fantastic! Took me a bit by surprise when he spoke his part with a British accent though, he kept telling us he’d speak with an American one. It’s funny how he can flip back and forth. Well, done, Alex!
Another favorite that Alex discovered this school year is choir. I cannot believe how eager he is to be going to choir every Thursday morning at 8:30 am (twenty minutes before his regular school starts). Apparently their school has the biggest school choir in Cambridgeshire—and it is a big choir of kids ages 7-11 or so.
I appreciate very much what his teacher does with these kids (she also teaches orchestra) as both Robert’s mom and my grandma are choir teachers. It is indeed very hard work. So glad that Alex enjoys singing! He got especially excited when his choir had to learn a pop medley, made up of some hits like “Troublemaker” and “The Hall Of Fame”. Oh, and he did join the orchestra this last month after the above mentioned teacher heard Alex play “Hedwig’s Theme” on the piano during the school assembly. So now he wants to play xylophone for the orchestra too.
Oh, I have to tell you something that confirmed to me how much British people like tradition. And I am telling you this only for information, not to be mean. On the day of Alex’s play, I picked up Mark at 3:10, walked over to the office, where the line to find seats for the play already started (I was third in line! Fifty minutes before the play began). We all had tickets for the play, but no assigned seats AND every family got only two tickets. So I was curious and asked the office staff (with other parents overhearing me) what we are supposed to do if we have, let’s say, three people coming—mum, dad and a sibling. Could I put my son on my lap? Could I get an extra ticket? What if I had another sibling (Katya) with me as well? I guess, according to fire regulation we weren’t even supposed to have any extra people, so no kids sitting on laps. Being the way I am, I couldn’t help but question why they couldn’t improve this whole system they had, clearly not working to facilitate the whole family supporting their child in a school play. A mum was standing next to me and she sort of shrugged her shoulders (not being irritated or anything) and said, “ There is nothing we can do. This is how it’s been done for ages, that’s just how it works here”. And THAT is a very different kind of thinking from what I find in American schools, just different. I still ended up sitting Mark on my lap, as Robert was able to come see the play as well. And I am off my soap box now (in a nice way, remember?).
Sorry, I cannot post many pictures or videos from any of the events because of privacy settings in our school.
And then there was little Mark. His first real school Nativity performance! He was so so excited for weeks! The play included both Reception classes (kind of like kindergarten classes), so sixty kids total. Somehow out of all of them, Mark got to be Joseph! He had very important lines to say in the play. Ready?
Mark: “Any room?”
Another boy says “No”.
Mark: “ Any room?”
Another boy: “No”.
Mark: “Any room?”
Finally…another boy: “Of course”.
Yeah, he is a star! 
He memorized all his lines! Oh, we love you, Mark, cute as ever.
He memorized all his lines! Oh, we love you, Mark, cute as ever.
Since I had my camera with me that day, I decided to take a few pictures. This is Mark’s part of the school—where only Reception classes and a preschool are located. To the right is where I pick him up at 3:05. Parents just stand in that area as the teacher walks the class out.
Merry Christmas! Mark has his bookbag (the bright blue bag) and his PE kit. That’s pretty much all he needs, besides a packed lunch and wellies (rain boots) that stay at school. Everything else is provided.
Umm…does anyone else think it’s funny that kids made underpants at school? Don’t think this would go well in the states-haha.
And this is Mark’s classroom/play area. They also have their coat room and outside covered area in the back.
After I collect Mark at 3:05-3:10, we walk over to the other side of the school where older kids study and have to wait for Alex who comes out at about 3:25. This is part of the playground (a very dangerous one for little kids actually). And sometimes we are freezing waiting for him, but that’s the system….not sure why we need fifteen minutes to get from one end of the school to another, but whatever.
And here you have my quick update on our December. But look at this last picture! Green grass in December?
Cheers,
Lyana.
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