Photo Friday: St Kate’s Day

No, not a very attractive photo of any of the people in it, although since I’m in a nice mood I’ll allow that my sister doesn’t look that bad. Cookie for the person who guesses which one she is.

This is a photo of some of the members of my sister’s class, all dressed up for their St Kate’s Day dance at school; I’ll explain what St Kate’s Day is in a minute. Their theme was James Bond (Lizzy went crazy with happiness when she heard this), hence the poses and the dresses/shirts and ties – half were Bond girls, half were… Bonds.

So. My school is very old, and as some of you already know, rather weird. We’re also quite big on tradition. Since our school is so old, we also have a patron saint, which is St Catherine. My choir is called the St Catherine’s Singers, and each year we have a day off lessons to celebrate St Catherine’s day – all of which are shortened to St Kate’s. St Kate’s Day is fondly known as the “best single day of the year”.

Each year, a general theme is set. Last year it was “A Day At The Movies”, and each class is given one aspect of that theme, so last year we were all given different movies. Each class has to enter a dance competition against the other classes, with the dance being based around their theme. A huge poster must be made, and the whole classroom has to be decorated too, and then the whole afternoon is dedicated to setting up stalls with various games, food, and other things to be bought, and manning them as the staff, guests and other students come around. There are prizes for the best overall themed poster, the best advertised classroom, and the best decorated classroom. All the money made by the end of the day goes to a charity.

That’s only the afternoon. The morning is filled with less exciting things – there’s an annual St Kate’s Day quiz, which is fun but also quite hard. Soon after we all have to sit through a very long commemoration service, although I have to sing in it too. I mentioned that there are guests – and many, many people come. All the govenors are invited, as are important members of the company who founded the school. A speaker is invited, and all the remaining previous headmistresses also come. In addition all the teachers who left the school the previous year are invited, and I’m sure there are many other honoured guests, although I don’t know who they are.

However, when the service is over, the fun begins. Everyone rushes to get dressed up into their costumes for the dance competition (or just in their costumes – I wasn’t in a dance last year, but still dressed up in a gorgeous 50′s prom dress since we were Back to the Future). You can see Lizzy’s James Bond dance here, if you have me as a friend on Facebook (if you don’t, but feel like you know me pretty well through the internet then feel free to add me). Their dance won best interpretation of music (Die Another Day by Madonna) and it was pretty good, I thought.

Once that’s all judged, we all pile into the lunch hall, still dressed up, and have lunch. For once there are no teachers on lunch duty, so it usually gets a bit crazy, since there’s a proper party atmosphere by then. After lunch, the fun on the stalls begins in earnest. Like I said, definitely one of the best single days of the year.

Are there any special days your school celebrates, and what do you do for them?

Tags: school, sister, st kate's day, story