To want to ban primary school sports day?

[namechangingagainagain]

I HATE sports day. I REALLY REALLY hate it!
Don't get me wrong as a child I was sporty. I did well at sports day and loved it.

However now I'm a parent Ive had to drag DS6 to school this morning. I have 3 school age children. They are all competitive but only the eldest is good at sport. He liked sports day. The other 2 found it the most painful day of the year.

Don't get me wrong they can all play a board game and lose without too much bother. They are all active and fit. They just hate sports day..... the sitting around...... the cheering parents...... DS aged 9 said " I hate it when they clap you and you're last.... it's really humiliating....."

It seems once you get to high school it's more opt in... which is fine.
FWIW I'm not anti-competitive at all but it just seems to me when they are little they don't have the emotional intelligence to cope with it ( or maybe it's just my children...)

( and yes I probably just should have let him have the day off in hindsight )

The 'increasing focus on PE' at DS's school (which is an outstanding primary) sees the 'best' children in each class competing against one another, while the rest of the class and their families sit and cheer them on. Fuck that for a laugh - DS isn't going again.

My facebook feed is full of results of swimming competitions, football tournaments and athletics. Children who are good at sport get plenty of chance to shine.

Yes but you're talking about one day. I'm talking about the whole approach to the sporting and academic curriculum. When my ds is upset and doesn't want to go to school because he doesn't understand what they're doing in maths, he doesn't get to opt out. They go to great lengths (much appreciated by me) to ensure it makes sense to him by teaching him in a different way. He's very hands on an experiential, so they found a way. That's what teachers and schools, if they're good, do. The same cannot surely be applied to sport.

Providing their parents can afford to send them to extra curricular classes Lynda. We send ours to taekwondo and it costs a small fortune. We're under no illusions that for many this would be unaffordable.

can be applied to sport, not cannot.

YABU. I was rubbish at sport and never won anything but I loved sports day and have fond memories of it.

Afterschool sports are free at DS's school LittleLion. So not all sport costs a small fortune.

I'm not clear what your point about subjects being taught in different ways but that not applying to sport is.

HerRoyalNotness's school's approach sounds good. I don't object to sports day per se - it should be a fun opportunity for the kids to have a bit of a laugh and a run about in the sunshine (or rain!).

A sports day which is about celebrating the elite is horrible and I don't believe should be part of the ethos of a 'good' (or outstanding) school. There is plenty of time for that in secondary and outside of school. This kind of divisive approach just engenders a lifelong sense that PE is only for a select few. Which would seem to mitigate against sport being an important tool in our arsenal against obesity.

Lynda my point was in reply to another pp about encouraging children with sport. My point is that it should not be about one day in the school year but an approach to PE on the curriculum. A good school and teacher can engage a child who is not particularly strong in a given subject. Why should sport be any different? My objection is to people who believe that because their child doesn't like or isn't good at sport it should not be part of school life.

Ohh I see! I absolutely agree with you :)

Still think sports day is crap though :o

A sports day which is about celebrating the elite is horrible I agree. It shouldn't be one group lording it over another. Teaching should be about identifying strengths and weaknesses and differentiating accordingly. Sports day should be a fun day and a celebration. A house system helps with that. Everyone can make a contribution. Score keeper, helping the younger children, sorting equipment etc. I used to train Young Leaders in Sport. The best ones were not necessarily the most 'sporty'.

Soooo those not good at sport become glorified dogs bodies Nope they take part in races as well.

"They should either be able to compete at everything at their level if they so wish in a way that is comfortable for all exactly the same as everybody else"

Exactly. Which is why grouping and differentiation is key, exactly as it is for all other lessons. I do also think it is important to keep everyone busy all the time as much as possible (so carousel of small groups moving round with small groups of parents rather than 'all sit and wait for the next race'), and to design scoring systems such that all contributions are valued (so cumulative length of jumps / throws from a whole carefully-balanced group, rather than a 'winner takes all' individual jump).

But if you don't have the right 'whole school ethos' to start off with, then tbh the sports day design isn't going to help a lot. If it is absolutely the norm to recognise effort as well as achievement; to support everyone, not only the able; to cheer for your team not your friend or the winner; to recognise and celebrate success in all spheres including friendship and helpfulness, then you are well on the way to sports day working. If it is an ethos in which any cheer could be seen as ironic, where the elite get all the opportunities, where sport is the only arena for success, then sports day will be painful.

I was never really any good at sports as a child , sports day was a bit of fun , it never bothered me coming last , infact a couple of times I made sure I came last so someone else didn't , it held absolutely no importance to me . My parents never came to sports day , both worked so couldn't .

DS1 hated sports day with an absolute passion from reception onwards , I dutifully fed him the line about taking part being important etc , but it really was excrutiating watching him take part , he hated every single moment , begged me to let him have the day off .

I remember at secondary school in the first year , there were people who were really good at sport , but by the third year they had been sidelined , being in the sports teams was the stomping ground of those in the higher sets .

Yes the house system is good for these things. You can have individual wins and points for the collective. Our grades have sports days separately, about 250 kids in each grade. The 1st, 2nd and 3rd places for each group of 8 representing their class get points and the class with overall points win. They get the 'gold' school mascot and iirc a slushie party or something like that. I really like how thy do it, every child gets to do something and contribute, they can pick an event according to the skill level.

PE classes seem to be enjoyed by my two, despite not being sporty. They learn rules for different games and you can tell the coaches make it fun, they engage the students very well and seem to be among the most popular teachers. Although they only get PE twice or thrice a week (depending on class schedule) and only one recess a day. Which they could improve immensely on.

I wish someone would explain about sporty kids having only one day to shine. I find it really hard to understand:

a. Some sporty kids excel at lots of things and get loads of opportunities to shine.
b. Sporty kids can shine in PE and in school teams.
.

Granny yes and in their clubs...and in the playground. In DDs playground the girls who can do gymnastics are revered and the boys who play football are the heroes....they get enough adulation and a chance to "shine". That phrase annoys me for some reason.

Who needs to "Shine".?? Just do what you do well and enjoy your successes.

VioletBarn, yes they get loads of opportunities and good for them but leave the rest of us out of it.

That's right! I'm not whinging that my DD1 doesn't get a chance to show off her amazing spelling skills! Or my DD2 has never displayed her amazing grasp of languages to the other parents. Imagine!

Yabu. I went to many schools and although I hated sports day, it let other kids have a chance to shine, I was a good public speaker so I used to be picked to read in assemblies/narrator in school play. In another school, I attended, only the ones who were good at pe took part in sport's day. My last school used to divide the school into 4 teams of mixed age and ability and in the morning we would do the normal races and in the afternoon play rounders. I did feel that was too much though.

VioletBam, yes its hilarious isn't it.

Re. 'Shining' - I remember receiving awards for academic stuff, but not sport - and I was good at sport. Maybe things have changed since then. But my perception is that academic achievement is regularly recorded and praised, whereas it is more difficult to 'shine' in sport by virtue of the fact that schools tend to focus on team sports where individual excellence is secondary to team performance and achievement. Children are forever getting certificates and awards for academic achievement, but PE still seems to me to be a secondary consideration in mainstream education.

Snow you were picked to speak because you were good at it. Imagine if they MADE ALL the kids speak? Even the ones with stutters?

That's what sports day is like for many.

The thing I'm not quite following here is that it sounds as if many parents see sports day events as things that are only done on sports day, and are not a culmination of PE teaching throughout the year.

We teach PE at least twice a week, to all children. We do athletics as a sport throughout the summer term. So by sports day, we know exactly what each child's strengths and weaknesses are, and thus can create sensible groupings for them in terms of races and events. We know how to differentiate for their needs and the support that they may need - just as we do for every other lesson from Maths to History to Music.

So exactly in the same way as we make accommodation for the child who stutters in a lesson that may require speaking, or for a child who struggles in Maths, we make accommodation for those who have either specific difficulties in some sports, or struggles in all. We may have run specific small group coaching or interventions to improve some children's physical skill and fitness, if their needs require that. And if a child seems to be 'mocking' another child for their lack of ability or specific difficulty, we deal with that exactly as we would deal with someone mocking a stutterer or a child of lower ability - severely.

In general, most primaries to my knowledge do aim for full participation - so all children take part in sports day, all children appear in the class assembly / school play, all children play in the school concert - with accommodation and differentiation for their different needs for these 'special' events in exactly the same way as for every lesson, every day.

So if you do PE twice a week why do sporty children only get one day to shine? And if its all differentiated and groups etc when do they do the shining?

Thinking again - is it the parental attendance that is an issue, in fact? So an exactly similar event but held within school time and without audience would be OK, but the presence of parents makes it higher stakes?

We tend to run both types of event - the school cross country is closed, the sports day is open, inter-house matches are closed, external football matches are open etc. Would making all 'everyone participates' events 'closed' be a better option, with additional 'open' opportunities if desired for inter-school type highly competitive, selective events?