Maypole Dancing in primary schools - does it still happen?

[-]

tamshubbie@reddit

i didn't in the 80s but my kid's school did in the 2008 - 12

[-]

Adventurous_Deal2788@reddit

Yes I did it I don't know if they still do (late 90s early 00s)

[-]

SaintBridgetsBath@reddit

I saw it on a village green in Sussex at the platinum jubilee. Sadly, it was just little girls.

[-]

iamthefirebird@reddit

My school stopped doing it the year I was old enough to sign up, and I'm still annoyed about it.

[-]

Prestigious-Gold6759@reddit (OP)

Adult maypole dancing clubs should be a thing!

[-]

LackingStability@reddit

I always used to do an adult one after the kids performances. Drag parents out, give them a quick set of instructions then stand back and watch the chaos unfold.

I always thought it was good to both show the parents that it wasnt as easy as they thought and also it was good for the kids self esteem to see adults fail dismally after the kids did it well.

I always wanted to do a maypole/morris cross. I thought it would have been fun to get an adult group in fancy dress (to include wellies and a pint of beer) to have a go.

[-]

Prestigious-Gold6759@reddit (OP)

I think people would love it

[-]

Little_st4r@reddit

Im a primary teacher and my school did it until last year when the teacher who used to run it retired and no one else really knows how!

[-]

meatflaps-69@reddit

Not since we burned that mainland police sergeant and they came shut our traditions down afterwards.

[-]

Prestigious-Gold6759@reddit (OP)

haha wicker man

[-]

Chickadee_Sparrow@reddit

I remember maypole and also the giant parachute

[-]

My school did. This was the late 2000's. The village put on a may day celebration every year, and we'd practice maypole dancing for a couple months beforehand. (The school was small so everyone had to do it). We also did the traditional well dressings (I can still remember the smell of the clay and coffee beans). Not sure what they do now though, I remember going back after a couple years and it really didn't have as much going on.

[-]

Resonant-1966@reddit

Still do it round here.

[-]

owneddolldesire@reddit

definitely still happens today

[-]

Tamihera@reddit

My nieces’ primary school does it. My elder niece (very quiet) got crowned May Queen in her last year at the school, and the expression her baby sister is wearing in the photos is a sight to behold.

[-]

BaddyWrongLegs@reddit

I never saw a maypole till I was an adult, and I've been a morris dancer all my life. The number of people I've mentioned morris dancing to who've said "oh, I renember maypole dancing in school", expecting me to know all about it, feels like every school but the one I went to did it.

[-]

Tea_Ve@reddit

Yes, our village primary do it at the summer fayre. One year group does it each year - year 2. Takes them weeks to practice 😆😆

[-]

Popular_Mousse_3958@reddit

I was at primary school in the 90s and we did it

[-]

LackingStability@reddit

I ran maypole dancing in our village up until 4 years ago.
We used to have a may festival weekend with various stuff on including the maypole.

It stopped when we couldnt get new people to be involved and the existing organisers were all getting a bit too old. I tried passing it on to the primary school but they werent really interested. Possibly because boys didnt want to be involved so it was pretty much girls only.

I did it for 15 years or so. I still find young women sometimes say hello and I struggle to place them as young adults when I know them as 6 or 7 year old girls.

I once had a concerned parent ring me. Her 5yr old daughter had gone home that evening to tell her mum that she wanted to do pole dancing with Mr LackingStability :-)

[-]

KatVanWall@reddit

You have the best/worst username as well to be a pole dancing teacher!

[-]

Prestigious-Gold6759@reddit (OP)

haha pole dancing that's funny!

As I remember, we used to do it in school time, in PE lessons in the spring and summer. That could still happen surely?

[-]

LackingStability@reddit

The mum was very much WTF? They were new to the village so mum didn't know maypole was a thing. Had to laugh.

We used to do the practice after school in the village hall. It meant that we could let children from other local villages join in. I tried to make it open to anyone who wanted to join in.

Because we were looking to do public performances on may day we really needed to have an indoor location for the practice sessions. March and April are too unreliable in terms of weather.

[-]

movienerd7042@reddit

I was in primary school in the 2000s and have no memory of doing Maypole Dancing

[-]

fanacapoopan@reddit

My primary school had the May pole, the May Queen and the May dancers etc. Early 70s.

[-]

Blue1994a@reddit

I hope not. They made us do it very often for what felt like years, and then there were multiple public performances.

[-]

Prestigious-Gold6759@reddit (OP)

Are you male or female?

[-]

Blue1994a@reddit

Male.

[-]

Prestigious-Gold6759@reddit (OP)

Thought so.

[-]

MarzipanElephant@reddit

They have a maypole at my son's school summer fete and do some sort of not-very-coordinated prancing around it to music. (There's often a whiff of the pagan about that school, so it's quite on brand for them really.)

[-]

Prestigious-Gold6759@reddit (OP)

Yes it has pagan origins, to celebrate Beltane.

[-]

gorroval@reddit

It's so sad that these traditions are dying out! I remember doing country dances in year 2 (would have been... '98? Thereabouts). I would love to do it now. Sadly I'm chronically afraid of other people or I would have joined a Morris side by now.

[-]

Prestigious-Gold6759@reddit (OP)

Yes we did country dancing in PE too, I loved that as well!

[-]

New_Line4049@reddit

I was in primary school in late 90s/early 2000s, wasnt a thing at our school at least.

[-]

Successful-Watch3814@reddit

I’ve not heard of it since I HAD to do it in the 70s! 😩😂

[-]

RhysT86@reddit

I was born in 1986, lived in Kent until the late 90s and my schools never did maypole dancing.

[-]

Lau_kaa@reddit

I did it at school in the 80s, but it's not done in the village I live now (different part of the country). It might vary by region.

[-]

DavidJonnsJewellery@reddit

Blimey not since the 70s

[-]

shebasmum49@reddit

I never did it and I was at primary school in mid 80s

[-]

hime-633@reddit

The school that my kiddos go to does it, and they have their own maypole :)

[-]

Prestigious-Gold6759@reddit (OP)

That's so nice to hear! Our school had it's own maypole too.

[-]

hime-633@reddit

We have a may fair every year and the highlight is the maypole; the PTA pays for a maypole dancer to come in a teach the kids the week before as well.

I think it is lovely :)

[-]

Good_Combination_613@reddit

I did it in the early 2000s

[-]

N64Andysaurus92@reddit

90s kid and no, never.

[-]

SovegnaVos@reddit

Primary school in the 90s - we did it. Maypole and country dancing, all dressed up in cotton dresses with a little white cap and pinnie, boys in smart shirts and shorts. Plimsolls all round, which would fall off if you skipped too vigorously. We spent weeks learning all the dances and then would perform for parents one afternoon, out in the playground.

I wonder if the difference in experience is rural vs schools in bigger towns? The school (which only ran from reception to year 4) was in a tiny village in the middle of nowhere, so maybe more connected to those rural English traditions?

[-]

TSC-99@reddit

I’ve been teaching for 22 years and we’ve never done it. I did do it myself though 😆

[-]

Divewench@reddit

My childrens school still do it, in Cheshire. I used to help out with practices. Each year of the junior school had a different weave; it was quite complicated but beautiful.

[-]

Good-Gur-7742@reddit

I did it in primary school about 30 years ago.

[-]

Lozzybops@reddit

90s child here and no we didn’t do it at all! I know what it is though whereas I think some younger kids and teens today wouldn’t have any idea or reference point

[-]

TapeDeckSlick@reddit

90s child here, our school did it

[-]

crispycat40@reddit

I was at primary in the 90s and we didn’t do it, but I knew about it.

I’ve taught in many schools over the last 20 years and I don’t know any schools to do it.

All major cities rather than rural, though.

[-]

jilljd38@reddit

Left primary school in 91 and we still did it up to then neither of my kids did it at school they are 25 and 16

[-]

TruthfulRepugnance@reddit

And on that tree, there was a limb...

I vaguely remember doing it once at primary school in the 80s in rural Cumbria, but it wasn't a yearly thing. Then moved to Tyneside and 'non-competitive Sports Day' was more the ethos. Doubt it happens much today...

[-]

If so, upvote this comment!

Otherwise, downvote this comment!

And if it does break the rules, downvote this comment and report this post!