Parents furious as school axes festive concerts
A PRIMARY school is under fire after scrapping Christmas concerts to give teachers more time to meet curriculum pressures.
Parents of pupils at Newhey Community Primary School claim youngsters have been left in tears, while one, himself a soap actor in Emmerdale and Hollyoaks, said the decision was “ridiculous”.
The school revealed that all concerts apart from those for Nursery and Reception ages would be ‘suspended’ - via a newsletter blaming the “forever demanding pressures” from Ofsted, as well as feedback from parents.
The school responded by saying they will do more assemblies throughout the year, offering more opportunities for parents to see their children perform.
It comes after the Observer reported last week that the Hawthorn Lan school had banned the use of surnames on pupils’ books over data protection fears.
Actor and parent Ben Gerrard, who has two daughters at the school, said: “The whole thing is ridiculous. The newsletter said they [concerts] had been suspended due to feedback from parents and children - we have not seen any of that. I feel everyone is as gutted as me about it.”
The concerts are usually based loosely on the story of the nativity but parents have said it’s more a musical event about getting the children singing and dancing.
Ben, 35, has great memories of his time performing at school when he was young and worries his children will now miss out on that.
He said: “They both love Christmas and love getting on stage and for that to be taken away from them and not have the chance that I had is a massive shame. My nine-year-old was upset and came out of school crying about it. We had to tell my five-year-old and both are really upset. It’s Christmas. It’s the whole build up to that and they have had that taken away from them. The kids love it, parents love it and the grandparents get to see their grand-kids on stage doing what they might do best. Results are important and they do help you progress and get set up. However, they are kids at the end of the day.”
The newsletter stated: “This has been an extremely difficult decision with many differing opinions, but teachers can now spend considerably more time teaching to the National Curriculum under the forever demanding pressures of the Department for Education and Ofsted.”
Another parent said last year’s performance was standing room only and agreed that parents had not been properly consulted about the decision.
David Leatherbarrow, whose five-year-old daughter Olivia attends the school, said: “It’s an important part of every kid’s year and an important part of school life. It’s not a church school but that doesn’t really take away from the fact that the kids do celebrate Christmas.
“They love it. The kids themselves love the concert and know that they are going to be part of something. It would be a big miss for the kids.”
One mum, who did not wish to be named, said: “I can’t understand for the life of me why any of the parents would choose to cancel this. They all feel very upset that the concert has been cancelled and apart from that we haven’t actually been told in the correct manner.”
The school’s spokesperson said: “We consult with parents after each parents’ evening, providing the opportunity for parents to give feedback on all aspects of the school and we have taken on board the feedback we received about our Christmas concerts. We also place high importance on pupil voice and so we consulted with pupils during the summer term about the opportunities they valued and wished to be incorporated into our curriculum programme and extra-curricular activities.
“Feedback from pupils highlighted the summer talent show, the weekly glee club, the race for life, participation in the Rochdale Music Service as some of the events they wished to continue with.
“Our nursery and reception Christmas concerts continue and we will now have every class doing an assembly for parents during the whole Autumn term, giving our parents more opportunity to see their children perform in shows.”