General Chat

have to graduate from pre-school? I remember my grandson did it a few years ago and there is coverage of a graduation in our local paper this week

Whaaaaat!!
Why is everyting a competition?????

we just sloped off home :-(

I'm going to sue the school for damaging my life.

Ooops...... cross threading :-D

I think it has become a "thing" these days. My grandson left nursery to go to "big school" in 2003 and they had a graduation ceremony. It was the first time I had heard of such a thing. They all had a piece of cloth round them like gowns and the kids had all made their own mortar boards and coloured them in.

It's a bit like the older kids have to have a "prom" these days but I think it is a struggle for some of the families to afford the "prom". I know of people who spend more than the cost of a wedding dress on a prom dress and then they try to arrive at the "do" in the fanciest transport.

I'm glad my sons didn't have either of these things.

Kath. x

A competition and in my opinion an unnecessary expense.

A quote from the paper
"The youngsters donned traditional cap and gowns for the occasion and were invited on stage to collect a book filled with photos of their time there and messages of good luck from all the staff.

Afterwards they all lined up for photos and then it was time to throw their mortarboards in their air, just like university graduates."

Island, I feel for you, it must have caused untold damage :-)

They have proms at our junior school Kath and each year there is a lucky draw for someone to arrive in a stretch limo.

No nurseries in my day. Also no school graduation, no prom and no school discos.

How have I survived :-S

And doesn't it 'downgrade' the real graduation ceremonies of students?

We didn’t even have a special day to commemorate the opening of the school/ founders name day.

I think it does Ann. Slightly off topic, a few years ago I did the first year of a combined studies course at Uni and was invited to Canterbury Cathedral as a graduate !!! I didn't go, on principal. Total farce

At school from age 4 to 19, only "graduation" we had was from high school

The final year 6th Form in each Grammar School in my home town organised a Christmas Dance, usually held during the last week of term in December. Teachers were invited, most didn't come!, and I think it was restricted to the 6th Form students (a 2 year group), although those in the 5th Form (ie GCE level) may also have been invited. Each school also invited the Head Girl and Head Boy, plus their deputies, from each of the other schools. It was considered only polite that at least 2 of those should attend at least one other dance.

The same happened at the school I taught at in the mid-60s.

All the schools held their dances in the school's Assembly Hall.

Then it was nothing else, until Prize Giving Ceremonies, usually held in October or November, when those who had left school had to return, if possible, to receive whatever awards and the A or O level certificates they had earned.

I'm sure most of us who graduated before the 1980s (or maybe 1970s) did something similar.


Quite quite different from now.

Of course all these "graduation" ceremonies originated on this side of the Atlantic, and the slow dropping of the stage at which a ceremony is deemed necessary also was due to the US.

We attended the first US-style Graduation Ceremony in Texas in May/June 1968 when we were invited to one. I was absolutely amazed then.

I can remember going to my son's Prize Giving, that would be 30 odd years ago !! Do they still have them?

Some of my forebears were lucky to survive the local Hedge Schools. ;-)

As far as I am concerned the only Graduation is from University where students have always (as far as I'm aware) been called Undergraduates until obtaining their first Degree.

If they continued for further, higher degrees, they were called Graduate Students.

I think that the use of the word graduation, far from being competitive, has crept in to all earlier forms of education as part of the 'every one's a winner and deserves a medal' mentality that tries to make every one equal and actually stifles competition.

Why bother trying hard to achieve a goal if it's going to be handed to you on a plate.

My own great nephew when he 'graduated' from pre-school actually wore a mortar board and gown, as did all his cohort :-S

Edit; this was in Oz

I had to look up Hedge Schools Dermot as I had not come across the expression before, made for interesting reading.

I saw on the news a while back that there was a shop, almost like a bridal shop, that was complaining about lack of business as they weren't selling the dresses for graduations/proms and a young girl bemoaning she had paid hundreds of pounds for her dress and not been able to wear it, she couldn't get a refund as they are custom made. Crazy

The companies that hire out the Graduation robes would have been hit too.

Goodness knows what they charge these days, but I thought the fees were quite high back when our 3 graduated.

Do the tinies have a supply at pre-school I wonder or are parents required to make their own arrangements?

Not sure Gwyn but in the photos the children were all identically attired, and it certainly didn't look like something Mum had knocked up the night before lol

Our son left school 1998 the "thing" then was to have their shirts or blouses signed by others in school including teachers, some of the comments were inappropriate but funny, one teacher wrote nice lad shame about the hair, he had tried to bleach it to be blonde but it turned out orange.

Your mention of having shirts signed has reminded me, that was what my son did when he left senior school1992.

My granddaughters had a graduation ceremony when they left nursery to go to real school. The nursery have mini gowns and mortar boards which they dress the kids in. They are given a scroll to keep. All rather naff, but it doesn’t cost the parents anything and they have a family picnic afterwards. My oldest granddaughter left primary school this week and they were all told to bring a spare uniform polo shirt in for all the class to sign. I can remember my daughter doing that , but not until she left sixth form.