Why do so many of our olympic athletes come from public school?

[ivykaty44]

and what would you do to change it?

I do enjoy telling people how great my kids state schools are, even for sport, because I live in a town dominated by a private school. Some of the parents (not generally the ones I am friends with) have never darkened the door of a state school and have many false ideas about them.

I am more restrained in real life but that's what Mumsnet is for.

DN is rubbish at sports but his independent school insisted that he attend at least one after school club - he tried several before settling on climbing and it turns out he's pretty good.

I don't think that a state school would've persevered in the same way, or been able to offer climbing as an option for that matter.

I've often thought about this. I am now quite sporty but hated PE at school. I just had no interest in the very limited range of sports played, basically netball and hockey (we did other stuff in PE classes but those were about the only sports in which we competed). My husband went to a boarding school and got to try loads of martial arts, kayakng, fencing, all sorts. My school (all girls) even stopped swimming classes after the first year because loads of people had to sit out because of periods after that. I started swimming a lot at 18 and a few years later met a bloke who used to compete for GB. I'd train with him sometimes. He said I had a swimmers' physique and some natural talent. It's a shame I never got coached. I did even get a swimming lesson after age 11.

I'm going to do it again, sorry, my DS,s high school has a climbing wall.

That school sounds amazing wigglybeezer. Around here, if you're not interested in football or athletics, you're pretty much screwed when it comes to sport

flatpackhamster

"How do you change culture to take part in sport regardless of background?

Get rid of private schools. Simple.

It'll certainly change the culture, in the same way that Mao changed the culture of China by killing 100 million people and Stalin dealt with the rebellious Kulaks and Cossacks by having them deported and shot"

Erm, I'm not sure getting rid of an elitist education system can be compared to genocide, but maybe that's because I went to a state school

It is a lovely school, however, the local council taxpayers will be paying for it for about a hundred years as it was built by one of those public/private finance initiatives. Also has gym, dance studio, boxing ring, all weather pitches etc. but is too small to have its own pool.

I would Iove to know where wiggly's school is, I thought ours was well resourced.

I can only talk with any knowledge about sport in my school (state girls' school) and much of the problem I think is boredom. Not everyone wants to play netball/lacrosse/hockey/tennis. We had a much greater uptake of sports in 6th form when we were able to choose from aerobics, ice skating, golf or sailing.

My state school had a climbing wall.

We were never allowed to use it.

Probably explains why none of my cohort are competing this summer

So does ours, wiggly.
It's so absolutely ordinary that I had completely forgotten to mention it. ha!

It's just as well, really, the local climbing gym has just closed and the new one won't be open until January, so the teams have nowhere to train. It's nowhere as good, obv, as it's just a wall, no proper overhangs and stuff, but it's a great resource.

I'm slightly bemused that I had forgotten it existed.

We did get to do football though after we protested. (played on the tennis courts as we were girls and couldnt cope with a grass pitch... Or some such nonsensical rubbish).

Our state school had a pool. Dd2's junior school had a pool. The secondary one was filled in. The junior school keep applying for lottery grants to improve their sports facilities.

Talking of facilities, the private school at the end of my street has a mixture of old and new facilities, completely shut up for the holidays, my very sporty DS1 would love to use their gym or pool, or join in with the holiday rugby camp but he can't and the local holiday sports weeks all seem to be for younger kids.

It's not just about having a climbing wall though, is it? It's about encouraging every child to find a sport and excel at it.

DD is at a state secondary school and nobody encourages you to do anything extra curricular - it's there if you want it, but teenagers often need some encouragement to participate, particularly if their peer group aren't interested.

In my state secondary girls were restricted to netball and hockey. In my diabolical primary there was no scope whatsoever for sport, especially competitive. It's heartening to hear things are better in some places but I fear that isn't the case everywhere. In my ds state primary the single PE lesson they had each week was often cancelled so they could catch up on various academic work. Then they wonder why the boys bounce around the classroom and children are getting fatter

Perth and Kinross, Captainhastings.

Bit far for me wiggly

I don't know if anyone's mentioned further up thread on this, but I do think parents have their part to play in this too... it's not all down to the schools to foster a love of sport. My dh is sport obssessed, until a knee op put paid to much of his sporting activity he played football twice a week all winter, cricket all summer (and was in the nets most of the rest of the time), he runs, cycles. The only thing he doesn't do terribly well is swim, but that's my arena of speciality. I've been taking both dcs swimming since they were a couple of months old. Ds cycles just about everywhere and says he wants to be like the "man on the telly" (Bradley Wiggins). I'm sure their enthusiasm for all things physical come from us because they're too young for school.

Obviously I'm sure that's only part of the equation, but surely a pretty important one?

thebestisyettocome - that is true of DS's state primary too, he is always grumbling because PE is the first thing to be sacrificed if there is something 'more important' to do (finishing work off usually) which suggests that it is low priority.

It is also often cancelled when they can't go outside due to bad weather - they can't just move inside because the hall is generally being used for something else (school concert rehearsals etc).

I agree adeu and I think that maybe where the difference lies between the two sectors . I work in, and my children attend, a school with amazing facilities but IMO too few children take advantage of those facilities. My children do something sporty and/ or creative every day, but they are the exception ( although a sizeable one) rather than the rule .

When I worked in an independent school it was just expected that everyone took part in something .

Having the opportunity to try more sports is where private schools with good facilities have an advantage, my DS1 is very sporty, he is enjoying rugby ATM but He really needs to try more sports to find out where his aptitude lies. I have been trying to find clubs for him to try rowing and fencing, for example but there are too many family scheduling clashes for this to work. He is going to try road cycling with the help of his uncle though. It would be a lot easier of school sorted it out.

It would easier but as parents surely the responsibility comes down to us.

We didn't have amazing facilities at our school, one lacrosse field which doubled as the athletics track in summer. Tennis/netball courts on the playground. That was it. We went to the local ice rink for skating lessons, we did aerobics in the school hall, we did sailing on a local flooded quarry lake and golf on a local 9 hole course. We had to get the bus to the local pool for our swimming lessons.

Has the requirement for PE changed over the last 20 years because when I was in first year secondary we did an hour a day with it gradually reducing through the years to an hour a week in 6th form. Now it seems the minimum requiremetn of the national curriculum is an hour a week in KS1 and 2.

I don't agree captainhastings. Independent schools manage to incorporate sport into their day so we should insist state does the same. Not every child has two parents willing and able to ferry children about to various activities.