To think DS sports day was odd and not really in the spirit of inclusion?

[Notbeinfunnehbut]

Me and DH and DM attended DS sports day yesterday
it was very hot and it wasn’t set out like a traditional sports day I.e activities each team goes round
mall kids were seated , activities did happen but certain kids from each team were read out and all other kids remained seated , there were children who took part in multiple races , and some none my son did 1! Being stood in a sun trap for over 2 hours to see him do one race at the end 😡

like I said some kids did nothing,

I asked him and he said teachers asked kids which ones they wanted to do instead

AIBU to think the whole point of SD is that everyone takes part??

It is entirely standard for a uk secondary school to do some version of a sports day. It would be the exception not to have one.

I have 2 kids at 2 different UK secondaries and neither has sports day, and 1 is a sports academy.

Unless there is genuine distress most kids should participate, little kids should enjoy charging about and moving their bodies, and shouldn't avoid it any more than they can avoid Maths or English.

You are comparing things which aren’t equivalent. Do you think children should be forced to take part in a maths or English competition in front of all their friends and many of their parents?

Ds did no events at his last sports day at primary school. He refused as he doesn’t like such things, instead he was the announcer (very impromptu!) for the events and loved it.

inclusion isn’t forcing everyone to do the same amount of events just because.

I am rubbish at sport, but I remember enjoying primary school sports days. It was a great atmosphere and lots of silly races like three-legged and egg and spoon. Everyone got stuck in.

Do people not think that it’s up to the school to pick races that are fun and organise teams so that they ARE inclusive and fun? I wasn’t sporty and dreaded eg pe but would randomly have a great time sometimes. If kids get to decide surely it will only ever be the fastest etc who do it and the others won’t have a potentially fun day!

I think it's good kids have the choice, but encouragement for all children also, quite often there are kids than want to take part and enjoy it but aren't chosen because they aren't good enough, that's damaging also.
I've also noticed sometimes those that enjoy it but constantly come last, loose their confidence and enjoyment goes so they no longer want to participate.
It's a tricky line to getting it right.

Do people not think that it’s up to the school to pick races that are fun and organise teams so that they ARE inclusive and fun?

Exactly, that's what DDs' school sports day was about, just having fun doing a lot of silly events, and they were so random that the ones who were really good at running or throwing normally might be a bit rubbish at some things and the ones who don't shine in normal PE lessons don't do too badly and enjoy it.

Surely it would have been better to find people like you (and me) something physical to do in place of traditional team sports and races, not simply have kids sat around doing nothing because they hate (often for good reason) the sport on offer?

our DS at times can be reluctant to do things, but enjoys it once hes encouraged to.

Yes my DD is the same.

She has mild cerebral palsy and will always come last or near last in a lot of sports day events.

On sports day morning she didn’t want to do it, wanted to call in sick. If school had given kids the option she’d definitely have opted out.

I encouraged her to give it a go, just do as much as she could, stop any time she wanted.

You know what, she did it all, and absolutely loved it. Massive smiles. I’m so proud of her and she is so proud of herself.

So I’m not entirely signed up to the “let kids opt out if they want to” view. I think the onus should be on schools to make it fun, non competitive, inclusive rather than just saying kids can opt out if they don’t like it.

PE in general should be about teaching kids to move their bodies and to enjoy doing so or to find a way they enjoy doing so, and why this keeps us healthy. It shouldn't be about traditional team sport, per se, that should be just one element as it's certainly not the way most people who continue to be physically active throughout life go about it.

I'm not great at team sport, I don't seem to have the kind of strategic brain for it, but I'm not a bad dancer and pretty proficient at yoga!

I would have loved this when I was a school. I dreaded sports day.

I’m a secondary teacher and have worked in secondaries in England and Wales for 33 years in a variety of types of school. Apart from the pandemic years there has always been a sports day. Parents not invited, so maybe you missed knowing?

As a child I would have preferred to have been given a choice to participate, I hated sports day so much!

Sounds a good idea to me

I've seen it done that not all kids take part in every event as there are too many of them, so they share the events out, but each child had to do the same amount (think it was 3 each). And any kid unable to do a sport (due to injury etc) had to be involved in another way (i.e. scoring, refreshments, collecting material etc).

Good for your daughter! So glad she had a great time. And you never know, she may one day find a sport she actually loves, which is different from the 'typical' ones done in school. She sounds like a really strong character and will give things a go in life despite her disability, knowing it may work out, it may not but at least she tried.

I thought this was going to be about my kids Primary school... where they decided to do an "Army" sports day and the events were a stretcher race over obstacles and a tug of war. There were other bits in the morning which the parents didn't attend. Each class in each group was competing against the other.

As someone who wasn't sporty as a kid, being forced to take part just to lose every race and drop every ball in front of an audience didn't feel like encouragement. It felt like humiliation. The experience of getting laughed at by my classmates at school put me off sports until I was in my mid 20s.

I think PE is important but I don't think that taking part in sports day is. Just like English is important, but I wouldn't support publicly lining all the kids up in order of spelling test results.

My children always stayed home on sports day. A few did, in fact. The school didn't mind. It wasn't so much hating sport, but it's (almost) always so hot!
Sitting around a field or playground for hours in the searing heat with no shade available is bloody miserable for everybody.

Forcing them to participate isn’t going to encourage them though. It’s going to have the exact opposite effect

DS (dyspraxic amongst other things) stays home every sports day and always will. I‘Ve never forgiven my parents for making me go to mine (and DS’ school is even worse because it’s a v sporty prep full of braying parents who all appear to be absolute throbbers).

That school’s idea of a games lesson is “all the boys in the rugby teams, follow me. The rest of you run laps of the field”.

No child should be forced to take part.

I was the child that finished last in these ' forced participation' events, and the subsequent humiliation and shame, not to mention the bullying and exclusion, that followed has lived with me throughout my life.

My daughter will not go through what I did. Forced participation teaches nothing, absolutely nothing, about life, and can do untold damage.

I think there is a balance to be achieved. OP, yours sounds really dull and boring and not a good way to encourage kids who might want to try things out but need some encouragement. Also it sounds like the spectators weren't cheering or supporting each other, which is a massive part of sport.

Our primary does a traditional, competitive sports day - it's a whole day event with parents bringing picnics.

In my 14 years of being a parent there I don't think I ever heard a parent say their child was dreading it, or they would keep their child at home or that their child hated the whole thing. I've seen some truly warming examples of class mates supporting each other, whether they win, lose, fall over, go the wrong way or whatever.
The teachers and (most of) the parents model what is expected - celebrating trying, taking part, the thrill of getting a sticker, the anticipation of which House is winning, dealing with disappointment.

I think it's important children learn these things at primary school. They WILL be doing competitive things during their lives, whether that's sport or something else.

And the none sporty ones don't need humiliating

everyone should have a role on sports day. So some can take part in competitive races, others in silly races, and others can be helpers. but part of being a community and working together is that everyone should be able to join in. If 50% of the class can opt out and sit on the grass doing colouring books, that lessens the sense of community for everyone else.

I was cr*p at sports at school, but actually being part of a team when the others made me feel welcome was still important to me for sports day & similar. I would have opted out if given the chance, but I think I would have missed out in the long run.

So kids should be able to pick their activity but with a rule that everyone has to pick 2 things (and no more than 4) from a set of sensible options.