Last night, accompanied by my wife, son and father-in-law, I went to see my 8 year-old daughter in her end-of-term musical production. On the past few occasions we’ve seen our children perform, it has been in musicals that I’ve written, which is always a nervous experience for yours truly. I’m in a constant state of agitation, wondering whether the audience thinks it’s a good show. Are they laughing in the right places? Are they laughing at all? Do they seem to be enjoying the songs? Why is that parent not clapping as enthusiastically as that one? Maybe I should re-write all of scene 1, most of scene 2 and change the melody and lyrics to half the songs. In fact, maybe I should give up writing completely and find something to do that I’m good at….such is my train of thought throughout.
However, last night’s production wasn’t one of mine….hang on, why wasn’t it one of mine? Don’t they like what I write any more? Maybe I should give up writing completely and…..you get the picture. It seems there’s no escape from the self-doubt that arises when ones creations are put out there for all to love, loathe or have no opinion about whatsoever. That said, without any vested interest beyond hoping she would speak with expression, sing beautifully and not forget any of her lines, I was able to relax and enjoy my daughter’s brilliant school musical as nothing more than her dad, which was a fantastic feeling.
What made it all the better was the short speech given by the headteacher post-performance. Myself having taught under a headteacher who would always address an audience with well-chosen words of wisdom, I’ve kind of grown to expect that parents will, because of these afore-mentioned words, end such an evening safe in the knowledge that their children attend a school which has got its priorities right. And now I’m a parent myself, I’m happy to say I too am safe in that knowledge. I listened last night as the headteacher told us how she, her staff and the children are, year-on-year, weighed down by ever-increasing demands to meet ridiculously unimportant targets that benefit their growth and development not one iota. We heard how, if she were to follow unquestioningly the agenda set by those ‘on high’ (whom we all know have no idea about the reality of school life) then there’d simply be no time to let anyone in the school’s community enjoy and benefit from such things as a musical production. As she so rightly pointed out, for so many kids who are the butt of over-assessment, performance targets and the whims of idiots who prioritise the academic level attained in primary schools over the experiences and memories created, a musical production or a sports fixture may be the only chance they get to show that they have a talent. Only because I didn’t want to embarrass my family, I resisted the urge to stand up and shout ‘Bravo!’ I now really wish I’d done it.
You see, I don’t give a flying flip-flop whether my children’s school exceeds the predicted number of level 5s in its KS2 SATs, or whether it achieves its required quota of individuals on the ‘gifted and talented’ register for numeracy and literacy. Sod that – I want to know that now and then it’s going to stick two fingers up at the powers that be, confident that its qualified and dedicated professionals know what’s the right and healthy thing to feed the growing minds and talents of children. I want to know that a teacher, without being frowned upon, has used his/her PPA time to make props and costumes, instead of number-crunching and pen-pushing. I want to know that legions of kids have missed ‘proper’ lessons to go and represent their school on the sports field and that mornings, afternoons and whole days have been given over to learning songs, rehearsing scripts and bringing a production up to performance standard. It’s these things that children will remember and that will help them develop into well-rounded and balanced human beings.
So, bravo to all of you who tire yourselves out making sure that’s the experience children have of school. You’re fantastic!
Now, back to worrying about why my children’s school didn’t do one of my shows this time………
