Theme: Gypy, Roma, Traveller
A celebration of Traveller histories and cultures at Tredington Primary
In the summer term, Tredington Primary School devoted a whole day to celebrating the history and culture of different Traveller groups.
The day began with a whole school assembly about the ways of life of Showmen, Gypsy, Circus, European Roma and New Traveller children. We talked about how people are all individuals yet have so much in common.
The Infants enjoyed a wide variety of activities. They handled artefacts borrowed from the John Moore Museum and discussed just how metal cooking pots and kettle irons were used for cooking on an open fire, why water needed to be kept in spotless stainless steel cans and produced beautiful copies of Crown Derby china plates. They cooked food from a "Romany Recipes" book (on an electric cooker, not an open fire!), listened to traditional stories on CD, made caravans from shoeboxes and Lego and coloured pictures of old wagons and modern caravans. They talked about different types of home, old and new, after sharing the story "Shaun's Wellies" and how the life of Travellers today has changed since the days of living in wagons.
The Juniors had a busy day too. They used the biography of Mrs. Alice Hearn to compare life in the past and nowadays and to make a beautifully illustrated Romani dictionary. Alice and another Traveller lady, Mrs. Jackie Johns, came into school to make paper flowers with the children and talked to them about some of the artefacts. The children also made models of a bow top wagon, made clown puppets, researched clown make-up, made Fairground models from K'nex and designed covers for Distance Learning packs. They wrote thank-you letters as a follow up literacy lesson.
The day ended with another assembly and an opportunity to show all the amazing things they had made. All the children contributed to a (delicious) fruit salad to symbolise that we are all different but together we become even better!
Special Days - Why?
There is an argument that having special celebrations of a particular group or culture is actively contrary to a culture of inclusion, that it leads to a "tick the box, we've done Travellers/Islam/Africa/Poland/disabled people" way of thinking. The same argument, correctly, says that a school should embed concepts of inclusion in its curriculum, ethos and in the way that it treats all members of its community.
It can also be argued that special days of celebration raise awareness of other ways of life and actively help children to feel included, that their particular group is valued and their identity affirmed as well as educating others to accept and value diversity.
You choose!
This is what Tredington children said about their Traveller day:
"I enjoyed making a cover for the work pack that Travellers took around, and I thought that making the Romany dictionary was fun."
"I enjoyed having a new teacher teaching us."
"I didn't know how many different types of Travellers there were until we learned it today."
"I really liked making the fruit salad and then we ate it. I thought the whole day was fun."
(With a huge smile)" I'm a Traveller, miss, I live in a trailer."
"It's like being on holiday because you are in a caravan, but it's better because you don't have to leave it and go home. "
"I loved making the wagons, I learnt about their history and where people used to sleep."
"I liked making the paper flowers, it was fiddly but the ladies showed us how to do it and they helped us. They are really clever."
"I want to give up my home to live in a trailer."
"I would like to learn to play some old fashioned games, if we had more time."
"I would like to do painting next time, I could paint a plate."
Elaine Allan
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