Murder before the lunch bell

Sophie is really loving school and is learning so much every day. I tell her to watch and listen, think about what you have seen and do, as this will make you the best person you can possibly be.

School has such a massive responsibility to our children they are the ones that make up a large part of who they are they are shaping the community and people of the future.

It is always welcoming to get invites into the school to see what collaboration between teacher and pupils has fruited and only after a few weeks parents were invited to the harvest festival, excitement from the children as they get to put on a show for mummy and daddy and thrill from the parents to see what their little one has learnt and to see the school at its best.

The Harvest festival started really well a whole corner of the hall dedicated to the bountiful goods brought in by the children raided from the fridges and cupboards at home, the surrounding community receiving this year will be in for a treat.

The children marched in proudly spying out into the crown for their mum or dad and giving happy waves, when eyes met. The music teacher was tinkling mood enhancing music that parents were guessing the tunes to and then the head teach got up to welcome everyone to the festival. From this the children got up by class and sang so sweetly and wonderfully great harvest songs that they had learnt in only a matter of weeks, it was thoroughly enjoyable.

Next on stage the head welcomed a local priest who brought out a box of fruit and veg to name. A highlight that made the parent laugh and the children giggle with glee was when a bag of sprouts burst from its bag spilling over the stage, while the child on stage giggled turning pink. The priest then decided that we should all name the fruit one in turn and praise and thank god for a banana, sprout, red cabbage etc etc etc.

The priest and another man then decided to do a play it was supposed to be about Cain and Able The story starts out light and introduces two brothers the Able character says quiet a few praise to gods and then the play suddenly turns very dark within seconds and the Cain character is jealous he starts talking in a tone that even i as 40 year old woman i am scared of him, he has also been carrying a garden fork since the start of the play and i must say his grip and waggling of the tool was some what threatening. We then witness Cain act out smashing Able (the priest) over the head with the garden fork!!! who falls down dead.

Sitting in the parents audience i can say a sudden gasp was heard followed by silence that a tumble weed could have gone right across that stage. Cain puts on a grey wig and announces he used to have a brother but now he is dead.

Cut to end of play.

This is what Wiki says is the story to Cain and Able is "Cain is described as a crop farmer and his younger brother Abel as a shepherd. Cain was the first human born and Abel was the first human to die. Cain committed the first murder by killing his brother. Exegeses of Genesis 4 by ancient and modern commentators have typically assumed that the motives were jealousy and anger"

What this has to do with the Harvest festival i am not sure let alone say it is suitable for 4 year olds

What i firstly disagreed with was that the priest who just seemed to be saying praise to god as many times as possible without any reason as to why or what for, and this made it feel extremist, and some what brain washing .

Secondly how the story was light hearted and fun and fluffy, very age appropriate when introducing 2 brothers it then turned quickly into a very dark story which made no sense and seem madly put together. Again what has this story got to do with the Harvest festival.

Thirdly and most importantly was the brandishing of the garden fork where it was waggled about on stage quite threateningly and finally ended up smashing and killing the nice brother.  To say i was gobsmack is to say the least, and worse when the bad old Cain just announced he had a brother and now he is dead!!

What can i say .. where is the lesson in this ? what i got from this is that it is ok to go around smashing people on the head with garden tools because you can get away with murder.

I really appreciate that school opens all religions to students to educate on all cultures and differences in people but if these are the buffoons and quite violent lesson coming from religious studies i think i would prefer that my daughter not witness these as they only promote that violence is acceptable and worse that nothing comes from such bad behaviour.

I really am questioning why these nitwits were

1 not vetted and why they were allowed to put on such violent and dark play
2 why they did not chosen something more appropriate and suitable for the children sitting in front of them watching and learning from example.

A good friend of mine said when you go to school if your teacher tells you to hop you hop if she tells your to do your ABC do it ... she has since gone and hidden the garden fork in case her older son decide to keep learning from what his teacher have said and does away with his younger brother.

The aftermath from this play has been tears from children of 4 years old witnessing death and murder as well as confusion. Arguments among parents as to what the school are teaching children as well as arguing about what is seen on tv and what's was witness at school. Tom hitting Jerry over the head is not the same as being taught this is ok from a school stand point.

What message i would have like to have seen was one about sharing and caring in the community and look after those less fortunate than yourself which surly is a message more inline with the churches teachings, and not a murder before the lunch bell.