School teams selection process

[Wonky]

How does it work at your school?

Interested to know as trying to weigh up if confidence or life lesson is the most important thing.

Primary or secondary?

Secondary is purely ability based.
Primary used to be a mix of ability and keenness.

If it is a competitive sport, I believe it should be ability based otherwise there is no point.

It is primary. Very much was on the side that it should be ability based. But now seeing how confidence is being effected by the stream of rejection I'm not sure. Plenty of time to become a skilled sportsperson, but confidence is so easily lost and hard to regain.

How many teams are they selecting?

Our primary had an A team, which was definitely by ability. But then had Bs and sometimes Cs and even Ds and DC were swapped around between those quite a bit, and care was taken that every child got a fixture.

It's probably no more demoralising to not be in the top team than it is not to be on the top group, and I am favour of differentiation. But it is important that lower groups and teams receive just as much encouragement and opportunity as the top set.

Looking at the topic you've chosen to post this in, I have a quibble. School sport isn't an extra curricular activity. PE is very much part of the curriculum.

Well in this case the team fixtures are extra curricular in that they take place outside of school time. VV if you are going to take the trouble to post then can you not at least add your insight?!

Auntie, no just one team. And several children are in several teams for different sports. And lots are in none.

Very rarely have enough interested kids for this to be an issue. Primary or secondary. So whoever is interested gets to play / a place (on the only team put forward). Some subbing if there were (rarely) a few more than strictly required.

That said, DD (fiercely competitive now in yr9) has told stories about the kids themselves pressuring especially less able kids to do a different event (say athletics where there are only 2 slots, they ask a weak candidate who signed up first to later stand aside) so that the best school sportsperson can be put in for a specific event against other schools or during internal between house competitions. tbh, personal popularity comes into it, too, they wouldn't pressure like that if they actually quite liked the lousy sportswoman.

Yes popularity must be a big part of it, but would have hoped less at primary. Perhaps niave. Mine isn't a hugely popular child.

The teachers seem to pick at ours - it is a mystery to most of the parents, but the school seems to be represented in athletic/swimming competitions without any notification of trials or auditions.

Probably because it seems to be frowned upon at times for schools to pick the best. Other schools around here don't seem to play only the best, but ours does and then wins lots of competitions! Fancy that.

I should have posted more fully.

a) you'll get far more responses if you ask about for school sport issues in Primary Education
b) I was agreeing with the idea that this is about the school PE curriculum, and differentiation applies for weak and strong performers across the board.

It's like the school play - it's definitely a school play, even if the performances are just out of school hours. And though you include every child in drama lessons and rehearsals, not ever child will get a starring role.

Now, the younger the pupils, the more inclusive the aim, as every single teacher knows that children mature at different rates.

But just as not every child will be good enough at maths at any given moment to be in the top set, or (under old requirement), good enough in any one thing to access the enrichment programme (no longer mandatory, but not vanished totally either); not every child will be good enough to make a selective sports team.

The crux of supporting a selective school team to to make sure the school puts just as much effort into the non-squad members. So it enriches the PE experience for everyone, and gets the best out of every single child whatever their level. (Like any subject really)

If it's genuinely extra-curricular (ie training in non-school club even if that club has some teachers among its coaches, team is a club team playing against other clubs) then the school won't be able to do a thing about it (other than insist on a name change if confusingly similar) and all you can do us vote with your feet and remove your child from that activity.

Thanks viking.

It is a school team, with school teachers training on school grounds.
I think I might have a case of sour grapes tbh. I'm trying to find an extra curricular club for my child, the last rejection is for something they and I thought they were genuinely good at.

A bit like fix says, how they are chosen is a mystery, not just to us but the the children. We still thought that the team for this particular sport hadn't been chosen but then pictures of children started appearing on fb at a competition. So my child still thought they had a shot when in actual fact not a chance.