Should sports day be optional?

It depends how the school organises it.

We always organised it in across year group teams in KS2 with everyone mixed up, so sporty kids spread through the teams, plus non sporty kids spread through teams as well. Kids could choose their events in advance , and some weren’t about speed but were about team work or throwing or other skills, at the end of the session points were added up and the winning team all got gold stickers. Losing teams all got silver stickers. It was a huge amount of organisation in a big school, but it meant everyone took part and everyone went home with something stuck on their t shirt. The highlights were the teachers races and the parents races.

KS1 did circuit activities, again lots of different things to do, not all about being fast.

My teenage dd isn't academic or sporty, she hates sports day so I didn't make her go this year. Tbf to the school though its a sport and games day, so they try to make it as inclusive and fun as possible. Parents aren't invited, so that takes some of the pressure off too.

Total bollocks

All these people saying it teaches resilience and people need to learn about competition and doing difficult things are really missing the point.
I have been plenty competitive, done loads out of my comfort zone and even enjoyed physical activity since leaving school. None of it has involved being ritually humiliated by an audience of my peers for being shit at something over which I had no control.

No it shouldn't be optional.

Kids are being sheltered too much from things now which means they are not set up to cope as adults when they come across a stressful situation. They have to learn that sometimes you have to do things you don't want to. But you get through it and survive. It's no wonder there's so many working age people not working with anxiety when they've never been able to practice coping skills when they're younger.

Totally agree with previous post that resilience is an important thing to be learned.

I think they should focus more on team stuff- why not rounders, cricket, relay races etc. and less on the competitive stuff, or maybe traditional races just for those who want to do it. DD is very sporty and always does well but it’s horrible for the kids that don’t, and it’s not comparable to anything else as no one has to do their times tables quiz in front of the whole school and all the parents.

I loved the way our kids primary did sports day. It started with about an hour of different activities done in house teams on the school field - so the teams moved around all the different sports stations, doing activities such as jumping,throwing a bean bag into a target, scoring a goal, throwing a foam javelin. These activities were compulsory. Parents could follow their child around the field, but the teams were small and were done as more of a team-game activity, with points awarded for the team.

Then there was a session of running races - sprint, longer race, sack race etc, which was optional. If the kids didn't want to do it, they didn't have to, and they could sit and cheer on their team mates. There were enough kids who did want to.

It was usually a really lovely afternoon, and the kids seemed to enjoy it - even the less sporty ones like my DD!

Sports days are horrid. If it were fun, a games day aimed at enjoying physical activity with games like rounders, bean bag tossing, obstacle races etc with less emphasis on the competition, it would be better for "useless at traditional sports" kids like I was. Running races etc is crap unless it's your thing. Those kids compete anyway. It's ritual humiliation for everyone else. As you can tell, I'm still scarred....

I was VERY good at sport and often won sports day prizes for running and high jump. Still hated every second of sports day.

My school used to do the throwing/jumping sports with no-one watching, so you go and do the long jump at 10am (in a group of 10) then come back to maths. That was good as you can have a go but only the top scorers were announced.

At primary level it is a free for all which most children enjoy, and honestly it is impossible to know who came first or what the fuck was going on, if my son's school is anything to go by.

Yeah same, and I think anyone wanting to keep their child off a sports day like that is probably projecting their own issues, tbh.

By that logic all kids should do their exams orally on a stage in front of a load of people. Especially the ones who are bad at the subject.

🤣

I think it should be optional.

I was a sporty kid, i very occaisionally won but usually came in the top few, one day i was chosen to represent the school for long distance running (with a couple of others) at a county thing. Long story short i was up against some very fast people and came last by many minutes. In that scenario it was good for me to experience failiure but I remember feeling embarassed about my time etc and if that happened every time I raced against average people I would feel very shit.

Yeah I couldn't agree more. To be honest I was never good at sports and sports day was always seen as fun for the sporty kids who wanted to excel but a way of developing sportsmanship and a bit of fun for the non-sporty kids.
To be honest in school in general I was always in the last to bottom/bottom sets and crap at sports in an uber competitive school and yeah it did teach me resilience. It wasn't nice at the time but it helped me reflect and explore what my strengths were and develop those.
Life is literally full of setbacks - people go on about resilience and I massively agree but also the setbacks and disappointments are so vital for understanding yourself. Failure is so incredibly important for character development. We can't keep letting our kids opt out of difficult experiences!!!

I've always done the same for my DC who hates it. Other one is a fan. And I wagged every single one when I was at secondary. I've often wondered, actually, what it does to school absence rates. There are a lot of days off that will be taken specifically because of it.

I think it should be compulsory, but if shouldn’t be all individual competitive races.

DS’s is done in houses, so the team who wins in the one where every person in the house has finished. It’s mostly obstacle races or racing between skills like a mini-heptathlon (run to station one, kick a ball into an open goal. Run to station 2 and crawl through a tunnel. Run to station 3 and throw a javelin, etc). I don’t see the problem with that, and I was always the slowest in my year, every year from reception to year 11z

I think at second level it should be optional, and genuinely competitive, so those who are athletic can shine (and hopefully be supported to compete beyond the school if they wish) but nobody else is forced to participate or be an audience.

At primary level it is a free for all which most children enjoy, and honestly it is impossible to know who came first or what the fuck was going on, if my son's school is anything to go by.

In my day they just lined us all up on one side of the field, Sr Eileen blew the whistle, and first to the other hedge was the winner. Now it's all relays and twirl to the 25 line then bear walk to the 50 line - none of them are listening and they are all doing different things 🙄

I think they should do it but parents shouldn’t be allowed to attend. Only because I’ve got my kid’s sports day this afternoon and I really can’t be arsed!

Other kids tend to be cruel to the weak if given a chance. Making all your peers see how crap you are can foster this. No amount of encouragement or ridicule was going to improve my speed or coordination, so I was being mocked and ridiculed for something I had no control over. Pointless and not a life lesson - nothing since has been anything like as shit.

Yes, I think it should be. I used to keep one of my children off in primary school for it, despite her being sporty. It just wasn’t something that was ok for her. My son loved it.

Thankfully at my daughters secondary school it’s optional.

Yes I absolutely agree. It's not the competitive element that puts me off or the fact a child might lose, this does indeed teach resilience. It is the fact it happens so publicly in front of the whole school and parents. Last year's sports day at our primary there were lots of tears from children who are either shy or body conscious, especially girls already going through puberty. It can be quite humiliating.

I was terrible at maths and terrible at sports. A real a for effort, e for attainment (showing my age here) pupil. I still agree with sports day but it shouldn't be in front of parents.
My child follows me and is very clumsy. Last year he did a race in reception, he was the youngest in the year as a summer born, and spectacularly lost. They had to put a tshirt on, run grab a book, run grab a Teddy and run over the line. He couldn't even get the bottom of the tshirt to separate by the time everyone else had finished and although everyone was cheering him, I and him felt the pain of being the youngest, least coordinated and not yet 5!
I doubt much will change this year but once do want hom to always try because some things you can improve with practice, some things you might be naturally good at and being able to laugh at yourself is also a good skill to have. I just don't think all the parents need to be there to witness it.

I think they should come up with some sporting 'events' so that everyone can enjoy the event. Perhaps as part of a team.

Like behind the scenes organising roles so kids can be proud of something even though they don't have a physical ability.

Like they do in drama when some children paint the scenery because they don't like acting or whatever. It's something that's important and part of team work and their good art work is appreciated by all who watch the play.

Perhaps using maths to design the size of the running track for the races or sporting arenas or something that contributes to the event and putting in the markers for the linesman to do the lining. Or have a build a robot (robot-wars style)that races in a competition or something.

I don't know what I'm trying to say but basically that teams could be involved rather than individuals and it shouldn't just be about who can run fastest in this day and age. There should be no reason for some children to fear the day. They should all be included.

Yes of course, this is very true. I think it happens because of the "no one has to fail their maths test in front of the whole school and all parents" comparisons. But of course it's not a valid comparison as maths tests happen all the time, and sports day once a year.

School is like grown-up life, there's lots of different aspects that some will enjoy and others hate - maths, English, science, sports, music, art (omg seeing my shitty art displayed on the wall next to talented classmates' ), the Nativity, choir, etc etc etc.

I can't get worked up about something that lasts one day.