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 )

Granny, for me, as this discussion has gone on, it has become clear to me that is not the 'chance to shine' that is the key to why sports day should be held (though I would be quite happy for it to be 'closed').

It is an opportunity for the school community to come together to do something 'competitive but together', and to be physically active in an enjoyable way. I have thought about whether the 'competitive' element is critical, and I do think that an element of 'striving to do your very best' might be absent if sports day became wholly non-competitive. I do also think sports day - like other 'themed' days for Geography, history, science etc etc - can (is not always, but can) be used to celebrate physical activity and its importance in a rounded education, and also - in the same way as ICT day, history day, science day do - to celebrate the skills and talents of pupils in a whole range of areas.

teacherwith2kids

Yabu. Our primary as school has done so much to improve sport and it's great to see the children enjoying it. For me as a parent with not particularly sporty kids, it's a 4 hour drag but there you go.

Teacherwith2kids the missing element in History or Geography days (which I've never seen happen in an average state primary) is that parents attend and the competition aspect.

There's no way that despite being told "It's all about trying your best" the majority of kids don't really want to win and the majority of parents wouldn't LOVE their child to win.

Kids feel the pressure because of parental attendance and so do parents!

It's not fair and that's all there is to it.

If we had open day where kids had to compete in spelling bees or mental arithmetic in front of the parents there would be UPROAR.

On the matter of kids feeling parental pressure, surely they feel this to some extent with the constant testing they're subjected to anyway? Take SATS as an example. We asked our ds if he'd like us there for sports day. He jumped at the chance. Had he said 'no, it's ok thanks' we'd have respected that. Children aren't always victims of over competitive parents with high expectations, many actually want them there! And presumably some who aren't good at sport still appreciate their parents' support and being told they're loved immensely regardless of the outcome? That's kind of the basis I go on - do your best and if you don't win you can still be very proud of yourself. We are proud of you always.

Oh and I say this as someone whose parents never attended sports day but would have loved them to be there just once, whatever the outcome.

Our sports day is a farce. the children have running races in the morning, which are won by the same sporty fastest kids each year until they leave the school . and in the afternoon the whole school is mixed up and they go round doing various games/sports. Extra points are given for parents shouting loudly etc and for teamwork within the group.

I hate it. It has been cancelled twice this year due to bad weather, and each time I have had to rearrange work. It will be held at short notice and if I can't sort my work out then DD will be gutted if I am not there.

Last year she cried because she didn't get a turn on the planks and she was inconsolable and then didn't want to do any other games!

So it's not my favourite day either!

However, it happens every year and DD mostly enjoys it and also understands that she can't be good at everything and that the main thing is that she tries her hardest.

Well, I'm glad it's going on at my secondary school. There's too much pressure for staff at this time of year and seeing the email banter back and forth to whole school between the departments, talking up their game for the staff relays is a breath of fresh air! It's lovely.

As the school first Aider however, I have suggested that training is necessary, as I won't be dealing with groin injuries or foot injuries of my fellow colleagues! I am also the cover manager, so anyone phoning me on Monday morning with sports day related injuries will be heavily punished on their return!

It's all about fun! I'm shit at running or anything remotely sporty, but it won't stop me!

Teacherwith2kids, didn't you say way back in this thread that you say it is a chance for kids to shine when some of your class don't want to do sports day? I am sure a teacher did say that.

Anyway GS has just arrived after sports day, he held it together in public but as soon as he was through the door he burst into tears. I am so happy that the coming together and enjoyment was there for others, shame a little boy who struggles in many areas has paid the price. Still as long as you think its worth it. I bet the Head, smug woman, is congratulating herself on a successful day as the clique of parents who are always round her reassure her that "everyone" had a wonderful time.

LittleLionMansMummy, is there any particular reason that couldn't happen on Saturday? Kids who want to do it can turn up and others just ignore it. It happens with drama and music, I had spent many an evening watching plays and music concerts that my kids did, I never expected them to happen on a school day or for kids who didn't want to do them to have to take part.

Funny how the teachers' strike yesterday was going to ruin every childs education but a day can be written off for sport.

No reason granny other than a suspicion that the suggestion would be received by complaints from parents about school time interfering with family time! I don't think schools can win tbh, as with so many other things. But I do take issue with the reference to a day 'written off' for sport, which to me just illustrates that PE is still very much viewed as a non necessary and secondary consideration in the curriculum, which should make way for far more important and academic classes.

I do think there's merit in asking children if they want to be involved or not though. I'm in two minds - I was a dreadful public speaker, I mean seriously lacking in confidence and I'd lose sleep for a week before doing it. I didn't get to opt out though - coursework presentations, show and tell etc were a part of the curriculum.

I think it can be done well or done badly.

The school I work at splits lower (yrs 3,4) and upper (yrs 5,6) so it is not an all day event (which some of them struggle to sit through).

The PE teacher and individual class teachers have also taken careful consideration as to what child does what based on strengths and ensuring every child is included. Its a wide range including the standard races (which some children will loose and this comes with an important lesson in itself), egg and spoons (different set of skills), jumps, chest push, 'javelin' (age appropriate version) etc.

Children's physical development and sporting achievements are important, just as their creative and academic development and achievements are.

...and they wont always like everything but that's life!

Oops! that should have said 'lose'

YANBU. I've just suffered my school's one (secondary, run well, no compulsion to compete, fun events as well as serious). I just don't understand why it's compulsory to attend the darn thing and why it can't be voluntary and on a Saturday like concerts, plays, DofE... I was only needed for about half the time. The rest of the time I read a book and ate a picnic! I said to my sporty colleagues the day we get a compulsory off timetable day to do choral singing or painting, I will stop moaning about Sports Day. They looked appalled but hey, everyone can sing/paint...can't they?

LittleLionMansMummy why would they complain? They don't have to go on the Saturday, that is the whole point.

Its a waste of a day not because PE isn't important but because the children do very little PE on sports day, they do an awful lot of sitting round.

Phineyj, yes you are so right. Get the PE teachers on the stage singing solos, do an arts day where everyone walks round looking at what the kids are doing so the non arty ones can be dishearted by the insensitive person saying, "What the hell is that supposed to be?" Lets start a campaign to spread the pain, why are the non sporty kids the only ones getting the advantage of all this character building.

Violet
"Teacherwith2kids the missing element in History or Geography days (which I've never seen happen in an average state primary) is that parents attend and the competition aspect."

We have both, every year. Plus science day, and an ICT one, and a maths week .... we have had art days, too, though not every year. Interestingly, almost all have a mildly competitive element, in that the best team projects / creations / outputs of whatever form are chosen to be shared in a celebration assembly at the end of the day, mentioned in the school newsletter etc.

I have said before that I would be quite happy for sports day to be 'closed' - no parents present, in the same way as all the others are 'closed'.

granny
"because the children do very little PE on sports day, they do an awful lot of sitting round."

then it is badly organised, and that is something you need to take up with your specific school. Where I work, every child is active for the entire 3 hour morning EXCEPT 1x15 minute drinks break which is part of the carouse of activities, and short bursts during the 30 minutes in which every child takes part in 2 races (so they might do 1 race, have 10 mins, then do another race, then have 20 mins).

"Get the PE teachers on the stage singing solos, do an arts day where everyone walks round looking at what the kids are doing"

As all PE staff are also class teacher in primary, yes, I have sung solos on the stage as part of 'the staff' at events, and yes, we have had arts days which are then open to parents to look round to see everyone's work (we also have open evenings after school wen anyone is free to look at any of the work on show anywhere in the school) In all cases, anyone making unkind comments would be very quickly dealt with, as we do at sports day too.

when, of course. Apologies for poor typing.

It's not fair and that's all there is to it.

Except that some me schools seem better at organising sport to be fun and fair (as evidenced by this thread), so obviously that isn't all there is to it!

And dcs schools have art competitions, topic work days, science days and all sorts - some involving the parents and open to all the children.

they've been told not to tell anyone their fabulous sats results in case it upsets those that didn't do well Why?

YANBU
Today was DS8 sports day, it was in an athletics centre on a university campus...he took part in 5 activities which took from 9.30 am - 3pm! so pretty much a full school day which was mostly spent sitting around in total boredom. Me, I spent the day with my ears ringing from the over competitive parents screaming & banging on chairs because their petals weren't ahead in races.

All this bitterness and us versus them (AKA jocks v academics) is weird. As adults we have to do things in life we don't necessarily enjoy. Same with kids, be it sports day, spelling tests, public speaking or times tables. But this is supposed to be fun. Ime most kids bar a few enjoy the camaraderie and the fact that they're not in lessons when it's done well, regardless of their ability. I've come to the conclusion that there are a lot of mood hoovers on mumsnet.