Sports days in the heat being cancelled

[LovelyBath77]

Kind of wish ours was. It's meant to be really hot this week and it will be at 1.30pm. Poor kids.

It's one of the days in the year athletic kids get a chance to shine. Was what I said. I used to organise sports day. It's not a popularity contest. It's a competition.

My DS's has been cancelled due to the heat. A lot of standing around waiting their turn, I'm glad it's been cancelled.

I think it’s sensible to cancel and those saying it’s uneccessary need to be realistic.

I got sunstroke and heat exhaustion on a primary school trip, and very nearly ended up in hospital. I was very ill and it took a long time to recover. It’s not just being hot/cold shivery...repeatedly vomiting for days...ugh.

I’d rather sports day be cancelled than any child have to go through that.

I think it should be cancelled over certain temperatures. As a PP said, there's nothing noble or character building about sun burn, sun stroke or heat exhaustion. Schools won't reapply sun cream and shade is usually limited. And as another PP said, hotter countries probably don't send kids running around in the blazing sun during the hottest part of the day.
It feels as though sometimes on MN there's a competition to be the most laid back parent possible, as if being concerned about your children is worthy of mockery and somehow makes you a neurotic fool. It's a pretty irritating attitude.

Annamadrigal

Came home crying and shaking with heat stroke

Heat stroke?! Really? Have their kidneys failed? Have they started seizing? Are they unconscious? No? Then they haven't got heat stroke or any other type of hyperthermia.

What's more likely is that they were uncomfortable and sticky and knew that if they played on it and whinged you'd lap it up and dote on them.

As stated earlier, get a grip.

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/primary/1803201-heatwave-should-sports-day-be-cancelled
www.mumsnet.com/Talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/2955119-Should-schools-still-hold-sports-days-in-very-high-temperatures

Also, hate this "x happened back in the day and we survived" crap which gets wheeled out. Yeah, a LOT of shit went on in the 70s & 80s. Thank fuck we're more enlightened now.

www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/heat-stroke/symptoms-causes/syc-20353581

Heatstroke signs and symptoms include:

High body temperature. A core body temperature of 104 F (40 C) or higher, obtained with a rectal thermometer, is the main sign of heatstroke.
Altered mental state or behavior. Confusion, agitation, slurred speech, irritability, delirium, seizures and coma can all result from heatstroke.
Alteration in sweating. In heatstroke brought on by hot weather, your skin will feel hot and dry to the touch. However, in heatstroke brought on by strenuous exercise, your skin may feel dry or slightly moist.
Nausea and vomiting. You may feel sick to your stomach or vomit.
Flushed skin. Your skin may turn red as your body temperature increases.
Rapid breathing. Your breathing may become rapid and shallow.
Racing heart rate. Your pulse may significantly increase because heat stress places a tremendous burden on your heart to help cool your body.
Headache. Your head may throb.

I agree with Butterflyslayer.... I don't do well in the sun either, 20 minutes reading a book is too much!!

Ours is tomorrow (secondary) and we will be stood around in the full sun (currently 27/28 degrees) from 9am until 3pm, organising students to complete the events - including 1500 and 800 m races.

There is very little shade and a call for gazebos has gone out.

I expect there will be many absentees the next day.

Before I opened the thread, I knew there would be swathes of posts about modern children and parents being wusses, we were tougher in the olden days etc, etc.

Look, I’m not a snowflake (in fact, I’m very happy outside in snow, rain and wind!), but as described by another poster upthread, I would not have wanted to sit in direct sun at 1.30 today for any longer than about half an hour, hat and sun cream notwithstanding. It makes me feel guff, and I burn very easily- I can still burn with cream on during the hottest part of the day. My son has similar skin to me and cannot spend long in the sun before going pink and/or covered in heat bumps. He’s not a snowflake either, and no doubt would have just got on with it if his sports day had been today, but I don’t think it would have been particularly enjoyable or comfortable.

Two facts: Melanoma is one of the fastest growing cancers in the UK. There is no such thing as a safe tan. The most sensible approach is to sit in the shaded by default and then occasionally sit in the sun for short periods (rather than the other way round, which is what most seem to do).
I’m not a sports day hater either; I love it, especially the parents’ race (in the good old days before they were banned).

Gosh it’s usually cancelled for rain isn’t it at least it’s a change!

It'd be heat exhaustion rather than heat stroke.

People seem to use the terms interchangeable when they're actually quite different and get strike is far more severe.

I work in a school with both infants and juniors on the same site but totally different schools.

Infants had their sports day last week. Relatively warm day but absolutely zero shade for them and our timetabled refreshment stop - PTFA gave out ice pops - was after the second activity. This meant approx 90 mins of activities with no shade and warm water bottles.

It was absolutely fine but it definitely was uncomfortable.

Tomorrow is the juniors sports day and therefore the same set up but even hotter temperatures.

I certainly don't envy those kids or the staff for being stuck out in the blazing heat for nearly three hours!!!!!

Our school finally cancelled late afternoon today, sports day was tomorrow.

I'm betting a large number of children will still come in their PE kit and t shirt of their house colour.

www.nhs.uk/conditions/heat-exhaustion-heatstroke/

Selfishly, as a teacher, I hope it's not boiling hot sun next week when it's our turn.

Our lot is secondary, so an all day event, held at a venue with no shade at all. There is a canteen, but we staff are posted on duty points, so not able to get away to the shade.

I have extremely fair skin (Factor 50+ every hour or bust in this weather), and don't want to be in the sun for that long, never mind the kids.

my dcs sports day has been cancelled , im relieved tbh as i couldn't get time off work this week

Waterlego we still have the parent's race etc but it is so competitive!!!!!
We had four dad's jostling and falling over this year pathetic arrogance.
A good few years back, one dad broke his ankle in his bid to be first!!!
Oh and don't get me started on the staff race ......

I don't care about the heat the kids will be fine but I still want ours to be cancelled - it is painfully slow & boring!

Rainbowstardrops

PTFA handed out ice pops

You need to take a serious look at your schools risk assessment for outdoor activity. It is clearly not fit for purpose.

As I said before there is a big difference between sensible precautions and mollycoddling.

Shade/water/suncream/hats, as well as rotating children in and out as required are all completely sensible, practical precautions to take.

It's a maximum of 30° in the UK today. There is absolutely no reason why anyone who does not have a pre-existing condition should suffer from heat illness in those kind of temperatures, if normal precautions are followed.

would you want to run around in this heat?

Ironically I've never seen the local park and play park so full as I have after school the past couple of days....

DD's school have had theirs today - 9.15-12.30 in direct sunlight, no shade. Water bottles, hats and sunscreen are a given, but still as most of them just 'sit' whilst all other years do their races then yes I think it was too much. Not to mention no shade for the parents - some people, adults or children simply cannot tolerate the heat/sun exposure. I am one of them - I was hoping they'd cancel it today. Oddly last year it was freezing!

9.15-12.30 in direct sunlight, no shade

My god, they could have been killed... 🙄

The trouble with sensible precautions is that they are more difficult to follow on this scale. Who would want to be the TA responsible for making sure large numbers of children are reapplying cream and having enough to drink? Seems a bit of a responsibility to put on someone.

Had our prep school one today and it was fab. Kids sat under gazebos until their races, wore hats, had water and sunscreen.

Parents sat under trees or in the sun according to their choice.

Brilliant day.