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??

Bit sad he only got to do one race.

i was a bit when we went to our first sports day in the US. Pumpkin roll, hold a cup of water over your head and fill a bottle at the end, balloon pop, kick a soccer ball into a goal, hula hoop walk etc. Nothing that resembled an official sport.

af the end they held a couple of running races for the fast kids. Everyone else cheered them on.

but I’ve come to realise from the complaining threads on here they’ve probably got it right. It’s fun, every one can participate and they each do about 4 races.

they don’t do proper sports until middle school and then the athletics program is just for those that sign up, everyone else does general PE which seems to involve a lot of dodge ball

it wasn’t set out like a traditional sports day I.e activities each team goes round

In my experience, the carousel of activities is definitely not a traditional sports day.

A traditional sports day was always a series of races - variety of types from running, sack race, egg and spoon, obstacle, skipping, hurdles, etc. - and many some other events, such as javelin, throwing, etc. These had winners for races, with their being a competitive nature to it all.

The carousel seemed to come about when there was some push towards non competitive sports, but this seems to being reversed again. In my experience, most parents and children prefer the traditional version over the carousel. Parents often commented that the carousel was more like watching a PE lesson than sports day and numbers of parents were never overly high beyond reception. We've reverted back to Key Stage 1 being competitive and it has proven more popular with pupils and parents, with increased parents coming to watch after we reverted, obviously not has them for a year or two but now back this.

We don't force children to take place. We encourage all children to sign up for at least one race and most will take part in at least a couple. We do have the odd one who don't want to take part at all - we try to encourage them but won't force any child who doesn't want to. Some children would sign up for every single race - we do try to share it out and have a lot of races so everyone gets a chance.

Is Sports Day still a thing?

They’ve never done it at my kids Primary school although they do far too much Football (GAA football) and nothing else. They don’t even do hurling. 🤷🏻‍♀️

so let’s take your reading analogy. Do you think forcing someone who doesn’t like reading to stand in front of parents and read something out loud would encourage a love of reading? Or would school actually find better ways to encourage the skill development?

Jesus. You literally can't win. The alternative thread to this is

AIBU my child was forced to do sports day?

How horrible the teachers were making everyone do it etc.

Were you forced to do music in front of the whole year group/school and many parents, with you being noticeably behind everyone else?

PE lessons are mandatory, where everyone joins in and takes part and gets to experience a variety of activities and see what they are/aren't good at. Not sport's day.

If it were a spelling bee competition, would you be annoyed that some kids didnt get a chance to stand up and get some spellings wrong, or would it make sense just to keep it optional?

FWIW though, our school does lots of "fun" activities that they're all expected to have a bit of a go at, and only a few competitive events at the end which are entirely voluntary. This seems to be a good compromise- it works well.

@Lola4321 Why such aggression? You know nothing of my situation or experience. You obvs have some issues/ bad experience that would be better dealt with professionally rather than attacking strangers online.

Screw that.

One of my children is likely to come last in any sports day race in her future, due to a disability she has.

If she is eager to take part, I will encourage her to do so, and all the matters is that she does her best and has fun. But if she decides it would be embarrassing, then I'm certainly not going to force her to run and lose s race in front of an audience.

I assume primary age? They absolutely should not be allowed to opt out, it's no wonder so many primary aged kids are overweight, bet they all had the ice cream at the end though (maybe that's just our school). Thankfully my children go to a school where everyone takes part in every race, they have 1 race at the end which is the fastest 6 girls and 6 boys from each class but other than that everyone joins in, as they should.

@Somuchgoo but the needs of chn with disabilities are. taken into account.

Forced participation rarely has any benefits to a child, let alone for a child of 5 or 6.

We would never force any child to perform in front of of the whole year/school and parents, regardless of activity be it sports day, a musical recital, a nativity, a spelling bee, a mathletics type competition, etc.

What is gained by forced participation?

Chn don’t need to be forced, it’s just part of school life. We don’t have spelling or maths competitions. We do have school plays and sports days. In 14 years I have not known of a child not wanting to take part. Perhaps it’s because we make it fun and appealing and they get lots of practise, encouragement and praise.

Yes, no doing a race at sports day (one day a year) and having an ice cream afterwards definitely must be reason why some children are overweight?

Seriously! It's not a weekly PE lesson that's being discussed, it's a once a year sports day event. Huge difference between taking part in a weekly mandatory PE lesson and skipping a race at an annual sports day where they'd do 2-3 races each maximum anyway.

Yes kids should be made to participate in sports day and there should be winners and losers. It's never too early to learn that you can't be good at everything and sometimes you lose. This "everybody's a winner" mentality is not any kind of preparation for real life. Non academic kids don't get to opt out of tests etc where they're unlikely to shine so why should it be any different for non sporty kids?

Are they doing tests in front of everyone and having their results made public?

It’s not a valid comparison.

Oh I have empathy in spades @Lola4321 but you seem to think you know me. I won’t be addressing you any further. Good luck.

The school's not saying "you're all winners!" They're saying that you don't have to fail publicly.

Now, there is an argument that we should all be working to become more resilient to failure. But I would argue that building that kind of resilience takes a more carefully thought-out process than "make them do stuff they hate, and are crap at, in front of all the parents"

Not without her being singled out, or treated differently. I will support her in whatever she wants to do, but forcing her to compete would be cruel.

Are the academic tests, at age 5-6y, done in full view of the whole year/school and the parents?

If yes, then it's comparable.
If no, it's not the same.

PE lessons would be the same - children are assessed during pe lessons. Sport's day equivalent would be a public assessment with spectators.