Should sports day be optional?

I dunno about you, but I for one have never been to any assembly where all the DC who can't sing well are nonetheless made to do so in a manner that makes it clear exactly how well they sing compared to anyone else. How would that even work? The whole class singing a song together certainly isn't it.

The kid who can’t sing isn’t made to try in front of parents,

What about school plays or assemblies where parents are invited?

My DS isn’t sporty at all (not for lack of trying bless him!). The sports days at his school are in teams. So a couple of kids from each year make up a team, so if they win they win as a team and if they come last they do so as a team. I much prefer it like this and it means DS enjoys it even though he’s not the fastest/most athletic.

Yes it should be optional. The kid who can’t sing isn’t made to try in front of parents, the kids who can’t do maths (or rote learn) aren’t forced to recite times tables in front of parents etc. it was such a relief when we moved to a school where kids chose what events they entered for sports day & there were lots of fun & team events as well a running races. No more ritual humiliation!

When is the annual school maths day?

At DS's school, they have lots of team events, including some 'silly' ones (like passing cups of water down the line to a bucket at the end). And the whole thing focusses on their team, rather than individuals winning (so they get points depending on where they finish, and then those are added up and the winning team is announced at the end). I really like it, it feels very inclusive of everybody, regardless of their ability.
The kids ALL seem to love it - there are a few children with disabilities that make running etc difficult for them - they participate as well, and the kids all go mad encouraging and cheering them across the finish line - there's never any sense of 'embarrassment' at being last, just a sense of achievement at having done it.

That’s what PE classes are for.

Shall we have annual maths tests performed in front of the whole school and all the parents?

Yes this attitude has really struck me on this thread - academic kids must be bad at sport, sporty kids must be bad at school, and noone is good at both or neither. What a weird way to look at the world!

These arguments have both been made and rebuffed at length on the thread already. For the following reasons.

One, there's no direct maths equivalent of sports day. Tests would only be that if they happened in front of the whole school plus potentially parents and relatives, and if everyone knew the exact ranking order after the test had finished. They aren't comparable.

And two, some kids are good at academics plus sports, whereas some kids are good at neither. Should we make these groups both sit out, and have sports days as a balancing exercise solely for the kids who are high achieving at one and low achieving at the other?

I wouldn't ban it. I would expand it to include non-competitive physical activities as well as competitive ones and allow children to choose.

My kid would opt out by being off school.

That certainly wasn't the case in my school. You'd play on "teams" but it was casual and the emphasis was on improvement not "winning". Swimming was more about achieving certain distances - your time was irrelevant. We also did a lot of things like life-saving, treading water or non-competitive learning.

You also get grades for academic subjects so I'm not sure why getting a grade for PE is relevant.

At my DD's school all students had to perform on stage in a school play. Parents and grandparents were the audience. No one was allowed to opt out of that so Sports Day should be no different.

No, but it should be team based and with lots of fun activities rather than just who is the fastest runner.

I have a DC with a health condition which makes sports hard. The infants sports day was all team relays, obstacles and low stamina races which DC enjoyed. Juniors is all running they will have to sit out.

I think there should be a mix of both with a real emphasis on the team part of sports as at primary level building teams and health competition is more important that the fast athletic (tall because of good timing on a growth spurt) kid proving they are the best. Again.

No, Sport is part of the school curriculum just like Maths is. Should we say Maths tests should be optional too? Some kids are only good at sports. They should be given their chance to outperform the kids who usually outperform them.

My DC are doing matches (football, rugby, netball, hockey…).
There is also athletics - I remember from my school days (a long time ago) that the teacher had a grid to write down how high you jumped etc and we would see the ranking at the end.
Or the swimming where they would also time
us.

I guess it varies with every school but your classmates definitely know who is good/bad at sports!
You also receive a grade every term for PE.

I’ve already said that if they made it optional, and a lot of kids opted out, they they should look at the reasons why, and change it to make it more appealing to more kids.

I doubt they would ever change it enough to make my child comfortable doing it and it’s probably not ever going to be ok for everyone, so it being optional seems like a good thing to me.

This!
I also propose a yearly mental math competition in front of all parents.

To the people still commenting that pupils should exercise / english & maths are mandatory :
Nobody is asking for PE to be optional. Pupils are already doing sports in front of each others all year long - this is building their resilience.

If you think a big event in front of parents is needed in addition to the weekly PE lessons, why only for PE and not for all topics?

I had truly horrible experiences of PE at school, the gym mistresses were awful to any child that didn't bring glory to whatever sport. I think they and others like them shouldn't have been allowed anywhere near any children, ever.

I've often wondered how it would have been if there had been gym teachers in post who looked for skills in whatever child they were coaching, any aptitude for anything at all? Imagine being told not to worry and that there's a sport out there for them and the teacher will help them find it?

It's taken me many adult years to do this for myself and undo the damage wrought by sub-standard 'teachers'. I really enjoy exercise but I loathed it at school.

I agree that sports day shouldn't be exclusive for sporty types but there's absolutely no need for parents to be there at all. Parents can do any manner of sports with their child outside of school, they have no business viewing other childrens' performance.

The drama competition you mention is an event where the people who don't shine at performing, struggle being the centre of attention or just don't want to do it have lots of other options. It's much more inclusive than the traditional sports day model. It's not at all like a forced musical theatre day, or a sports day. It sounds much better than that.

I completely agree OP. I have horrible memories of both sports day and also our compulsory annual swimming gala.

I went to a prep school and we had to wear our usual PE outfit for sports day which was an aertex (polo) shirt and massive knickers. As we were attached to a grammar school, local year 6 primary school children were invited to watch, to let them see the school facilities. Obviously we had the absolute mickey taken out of us, it was horrible and I still shudder to think about it 😬

@LaCouleurDeMonCiel I don't recall ever doing any kind of in class test in PE?

Our lessons weren't competitive ones.

Every sports day that came up with my2 they seemed to be really unwell on them days.
It happened with school plays aswell they were so ill couldent get out of bed.
Not as i blamed them it was the most boring thing ever.

These happen anyway! School assemblies, nativity plays, choir...

The issue with sports day is that it happens in front of the whole school and parents.

You mention having to read out loud / tests in class : the equivalent are the PE lessons, where all pupils perform in front of their own class and PE teacher. These also happen weekly or even several times a week, no?