Over 6 hours of sport

[poppydoppy]

A week at prep school.....too much? What do you think? Academic lessons are 45 mins.

Interestingly, there was an experiment conducted in, I think Canberra (am wondering if it was Melbourne??- but certainly in Oz) a few years ago where an university sports science dept worked with a bunch of local, willing-to-participate state schools to measure every DC in terms of height, weight, body proportion etc then direct that DC into a sport in which they were more likely to do well, i.e. few shorties doing basketball, and DC with long femora (thigh bones) proportionate to their heights doing cycling and rowing etc.

As you can imagine, involved participation went up and success increased!

And yes, of course it'd be impossible to offer this to all DC, the costs for a start, let alone the logistics, would be prohibitive but it was interesting!

As for: "Isn't it a great life lesson to exercise daily? Starting such an excellent routine now increases the chance of her partaking in adult sport and there for having a healthy adulthood."- well, my experience, detailed earlier is that of all the private schoolies I work with, none regularly participate in any sport whatsoever as adults- watch keenly, yes, but it really doesn't seem to have made the less enthusiastic childhood participants into life-long sport-partakers at all! You can take a horse to water etc. Those who are keen from ages 4-18 will participate anyway as adults, won't they? Whereas the rest will remember long hours of purgatory, putting in minimum effort.

I am with roguedad to an extent, in that I believe quite a few private-choosing parents do tend, a la MN, to always cite 'Oh, it's for the sport/music/drama' as it's seen as crass to say 'Oh, it's for better academic results'- which is why I'd send my DC privately if I had to! I really have yet to see any evidence that spending longer at sport/music/dance when done as 'compulsory extras' (in an elongated day) really has much, if any bearing towards a DC developing somehow into a 'more-rounded' individual as an adult, myself!

It doesn't have to be 'either/or'.

The DCs had daily PE classes of 45 mins each in high school in the US, with various required PE classes necessary over the course of the four years, including movement/dancing, team sports, racquet sports, gymnastics, self defence, fitness (incl how to use fitness machines, weight machines and safety in the weight and fitness gym) swimming, adventure ed (canoeing in the pool, safety, rock climbing, etc). You would end up repeating some areas, or you might end up playing soccer and then basketball for team sports, or tennis and then badminton...

On top of that they did sport practice both before and after school during the season of their sport (before school 5 to 7.30 am with classes starting at 8 and afterwards from 3.15 to 5.30 with a meet following about three times a week when the season got under way). DD1 got a PE waiver in her final year as she had to take a certain art class to get her portfolio filled.

DD1 did swimming (winter sport) and water polo (spring sport) for her final two years, and did badminton for her first two years (spring sport). The other DCs did football (DS, autumn sport, with training lasting through the preceding summer and weight lifting required in the winter), and badminton (spring sport, DD2 and DD3). Swimming was very much as Pagwatch described. Football consisted of constant drills and strength / speed / stamina training. Badminton was a matter of racquet drills/ work on form, stamina and footwork. Nobody was expected to bust a gut/ break an ankle during training.

For extracurricular team sports there was a C to play rule -- if any of your grades fell below a C you were benched until you brought it back up to a C average. Any infraction of underage drinking or smoking or narcotics laws (including references to drinking etc, on FB or other social media) meant you were kicked off the team.

Using left and right sides of the brain makes the whole brain work better. You can do this with art and music and sport if the sport programme is well thought out. Pushing yourself to get up for those early morning sessions in the pool or on the track or in the weight room builds character and makes you into a more determined student. Organising your time so that you get all the homework done on top of the commitment to sport is a skill that develops maturity.

DD1 also did one of the school musicals. The other DCs also took part in teams -- maths team, French club, peer mediation, big buddies (club for special ed students with NT volunteers to take them to events and organise activities for them outside of school time), and a fundraising club that ran various fundraising drives for local charities. None of them suffered, schoolwork-wise, from their activities.

A lot of prep schools have Saturday school as well. I think of they use Saturday to compensate then it is ok.

it's perfectly possible in a longer school day which many prep schools have and then Saturday school (with enrichment type lessons cum activities in the morning) followed by matches on top of 6 hours of sport in the week which many prep schools have also

It's often the extras like sport and drama and music as extra curriculars that draws parents to all round experience of going private in the first place and while they have longer days but also have longer holidays.

We have 2 hours of sport a day Mon, Tues, Weds and friday. 8 hours a week dedicated to sport and only 2 hours science.
I am so cross I am taking my child out of this school. They have a half day of lessons 4 times a week its a joke.........and I pay for this.

slick that sounds an unusual ratio. You are obviously not happy with the school but just out of interest what are their results like? Do their pupils get good CE results/ scholarships when they leave the school and do they have an extended day? My DCs probably had the same amount of sport but they had an extended day and Saturday school.

No Saturday school and no extended day.The results are going down year on year. Most parents are now heavily tutoring.
2 hours of science a week and 8 hours of sport is just ridiculous.
There is no scholarship class either, if a child is scholarship material its up to the parents to tutor them not the school.

6 hours a week sounds about OK, 8 hours does sound a lot for children that age.

At DS's prep they did lessons until 3pm and sport from 3.30 until 5 (including time for showers and changing afterwards) 4 days a week, and on the 5th day they spent the sport time on a rolling programme of other activities like a sort of mini DofE scheme.

Music and clubs took place during the lunch break and some after school.

As has been said upthread, it was these were extras that we were paying for, but we would not have wanted them to take place at the expense of teaching time.

Back to OP 6+hrs of sport a week at prep school is the norm.

Remember these kids are running a school day that is longer than state school- 8 or 8.15 to 4 being normal. So there is plenty of academic time too.

DH teaches boys at prep. They really respond to the extra exercise positively and settle better to sit and work. They also run around like complete loons at playtime so they aren't "worn out" by it all!

I suspect it's like having a class of springer spaniels!

If there was the remotest chance of me being converted to private education it would be the sport that did it. The sports provision at most state primary schools just makes me want to weep.

6 hours a week sounds fantastic!

agree with curlew
ds 's have jusy moved to a school where ds1 has
1.5 hour indoor PE Monday
1.5 hours swimming Tuesday (followed by out of school football training)
3 hours Rugby Wednesday
1.5 hours rugby Friday
Football match Saturday

It energises him in so many ways. he is engaged, learning discipline team work and determination through sport. Yes he could be sitting learning history or geography but tbh aged 9 I would prefer him to be doing sport

What is a nine year old doing in three hours of rugby?

YOu pay your money and take your choice, if you don't like it then move to somewhere else.
Personally I think it is very good to get kids taking exercise daily from a young age

Most children do lots of clubs after school. My DS has had to stop some out of school clubs due to the amount of sport he is doing at school, hes just too tired.

PE teachers are cheap to hire, teachers are not. Schools are businesses at the end of the day. I now have to pay out for tutors because the school is not teaching enough INO.

When I went to school lunchtime, play time and PE, games and swimming were more than enough.

Actually, adding it up, my year 8 ds
does more than 6 hours of achool sport a week if you include after school clubs.
Then another 4 non school related!

Slickrick-
Why is he still at the school? Sounds grim!

I believe PE teachers get paid the same as other teachers so no cost saving there, and not a business issue. My 9 year old does 6 hours of sport in school and another 6 hours out of school. He isn't exceptionally gifted..he just likes doing sports.

That would have been my idea of hell as a kid and the same would probably be said for my dcs. It does depend though whether this includes dance etc.

3 hours of rugby or 3 hours of history. Each to their own but both my DCs would have chosen history.

Why not 3 hours of rugby- or equivalent -and 3 hours of history?

To be honest we are all crap at traditional team sports and it really is torture if you are really bad.

Swimming would be good though.

The prep school I was at had at least 8 hours of sport a week plus matches on Saturdays. One afternoon was spent on 'Activities', the rest were sport. In the summer we had 2 lessons after lunch/rest, then break and then sport till the end of the day, in winter it was sport straight after lunch/rest then break and then 2 lessons before going home.

The school day ended at 6.10pm so it wasn't an issue regarding adequate time for academics etc. We also had Saturday school and around 70% of pupils were boarders (so they needed to exhaust the little monsters before bed).

I was useless at sport so it was way too many hours as far as I was concerned, but the school was massively successful at getting children into top public schools and I imagine the sports helped in a big way with that. There was a very wide range of sports to choose from and an indoor pool at least...