Top sporty secondary schools for 2022

[tachetastic]

Not a question but there seem to be a lot of threads on sporty schools recently, so I thought I would share this link to School Sport Magazine's top 200 sports schools for 2022. They have just published a list for 2023 but I don't think it is on their website yet as it was only released this week and they will be keen for people to buy the magazine.

https://schoolsportmag.co.uk/top-200-sports-schools-of-2022/

There are lots of reasons to choose one school over another, but I thought people may think this useful as a resource.

🏉🏑🏏🏊🏇

Well done surbiton high!! Their girls football results in 2023 were better than 2022 too.

Depressing that it's all about money and so many amazing DC without wealthy parents just can't access half this stuff. Even the state schools I can see are selective or in very expensive areas

Ooh
P MM

My children go to one of the state schools on this list. They are both sporty children, competing at a decent level in multiple sports out of school, but their experience of sport at the school is incredibly uninclusive. Opportunities are offered to the same very small group of children repeatedly with no efforts made to involve or include others, and no interest in selecting the strongest candidates. It matters very much who you know, not how good you are.

Parents are asked to contribute £50 per year if their child is selected to represent the school in any sport.

This. Pretty disgraceful, nothing to crow about.

Very few sports are fully open to all.

Oh look, a list of 200 schools that were willing to pay for their names to go on a list of 200 schools that will pay to advertise that they do some sport.

Dominated by single sex schools (unsurprising - larger pool of prospective participants for each team/event, fewer sports for the games department to coach)

Made up of win/place rankings in certain national tournaments, most of which are pretty inaccessible to many schools.

Does not factor in anything to do with range of sport on offer, or strength of performance over previous years (if you've got a sporty child, you'll want a school that has a consistently good record across many, which is not necessarily the same as peaking in competition in a specific year)

Yeah these lists have to be taken with a pinch of salt and it would be interesting to see what the criteria for ranking is. I mean, I could have put Millfield at the top without doing any research and been right- massive school that self-selects for sportiness ( ie you don’t have to be sporty to go there but parents wouldn’t send a non sporty kid there as better options for dc with other interests at the same price point). We live in the same region and they win everything. the value add of the school in terms of coaching and match strategy is apparent to be fair.

Also it seems the rankings possibly include results for children at x school who do the sport predominantly outside school and are v good ( national level in athletics, swimming and gymnastics for example). For this I think it’s probably a case that independent schools are better and tracking and communicating this rather than that dc at state schools don’t do this.

Also my DS’s school football team wins a lot ( at local level) because by a statistical fluke they have 3 premiership academy footballers in his year. The rest of them are just boys who like a kick around but they manage to win against most other teams on account of those three- again nothing to do with school coaching really.

i think this ranking probably doesn’t mean much, especially if we don’t know the criteria and as previous poster mentioned, whether you apply to be in it which I suspect you do.

But actually, team sports are not expensive to play out of school. I have 2 DC who play 5 team sports between them. Annual subs, which includes coaching, facilities, match fees, insurance etc is roughly 1k per year in total. I do have to buy kit but there’s a thriving second hand and freebie market and other than cricket, they don’t need expensive kit/equipment- just the shirt and socks. So it’s not 💯 accessible because if you don’t have 200 quid per child per year for a sport you don’t have it, but it’s not expensive relative to other interests when you think that’s c. 2 hours a week of structured, coached sport for a fiver a week.

I don’t think the state/private gap in team sports participation can be explained by money. I think there are a tonne of other factors coming into play.

It’s money and privilege related. My son played academy level football for a top club when he was little in a deprived area. Many boys just couldn’t continue because their parents couldn’t get them there. Because they were working to pay bills.

The club were fantastic and helped where they could but it’s not always possible. It’s not just about subs - it’s about time. And time is money.

@LaPalmaLlama the kids who make all the elite levels of any sport are seriously not the ones going one hour coaching & one match at week in grassroots. ( what £200 a year gets you). They will all be doing multiple clubs and sessions in any week and probably 1-1 coaching on top from age 5/6.
Most academy football players will be doing 4/5 sessions a week at least if not 5/6
Tennis - all top ones are paying out up to £150 a week for coaching sessions
Hockey - almost exclusively private school kids who play there
Gymnastics - elite do 12-15 hours by age 10 plus all the on costs and £100 leotards etc

They got my old school name wrong (missed the ‘The’).

It would be interesting if they listed the schools by boys, girls and mixed, plus private, selective and state.

This. The amount of time and money required for elite sport is huge

most families would need a parent able to get the DC to and from 3-5 sessions per week which are in normal working hours. Add in to the mix any siblings and it’s the preserve of those that can afford to work around it, or not at all.

It would be interesting to compare that table to an academic results table! Private and single sex grammar and affluent areas seem to be over represented. My old school dropped a long way this year, I wonder why?

I wonder what value some of these schools add, how much is due to athletes training elsewhere and also just success attracting other athletic kids. I went to grammar where a lot of kids from my swimming club already went.

That is interesting. Our state school is on there, they’ve had a hugely successful year so I expect that they’ll be moving up the list. Although it’s just a bog standard northern school, the town attracts sporty families and so a lot of children do sport outside of school. Things like rugby, cycling and fell running. The school definitely makes the most of this. They are also flexible with people taking time out for competitions, especially in the sixth form. We therefore see pupils coming from the local private schools (some are on the list) to our state school for sixth form

Interesting article about the ranking, but how do they get the ranking?
Is rugby given more marks than football or cricket? Would the unusual individual sport like BMX or ice skating be given marks. How about rowing, water polo or horse riding?
Data perimeters would be helpful.

@TiaSeeya correct. Academy football sessions 90min from home starting at 5 or 6 pm are quite normal. Seasons most nights. Hours sat on sidelines or court / pool side. Time to cook meals that are eaten in the car. Multiple kits.
Football - often needs four different boots for different surfaces.
Add on travel / petrol to completions and matches at least 1-2 times a week which could be 2-4 hours round trip

Even at grassroots level, the unspoken truth is that sports cost money. My DC play for a club which trys extremely well to make it affordable... its fundraising vs subs, free kit (except gum shield) boot exchange, no match fees... but the one thing they can't make free is transport. Games can be an hours drive away! And that's needs time and money to facilitate.

Indeed, and football is probably the most accessible sport there is! It’s certainly one of the few that isn’t stuffed to the gunnels with the elite.

No rowing, water polo or horse riding for the majority of kids. And I’ve yet to see a winter sports medal winner from a deprived background!

These tables piss me right off as they just show entrenched privilege - not sporting achievement.

Thanks to those who replied- tried to tag you but page keeps refreshing so I’ve given up. All good points re barriers to participation. It would be interesting to see if participation is higher in families with 1/2 kids vs more and also if London based kids have higher participation rates than average as easier for them to get to matches and training independently.

i’m a bit surprised about the transport thing at grassroots level- I always offer lifts if kids can’t get there. Pretty much everyone lift shares and there are a few whose parents can’t reciprocate but no one worries about that. I get that maybe some people would be too embarrassed to ask though.

re the 2 hours a week thing, for rugby this is not untypical until academies start which is quite late- 14/15. Then the commitment does ramp up. I get that football is a lot more at elite level.

I think there’s also a multigenerational aspect in some sports- hockey particularly, where dc play because their parents play and it can be hard to break into some clubs without that background.

DS played academy at a London club and transport is fine once they are of an age - but he was 9-10 years old…..

@LaPalmaLlama rugby is no different just not as obvious. Those entering at 14/15 into academies will play at a club but invariably go to a rugby playing school.. generally private or a privileged grammar. Our local privates all have specialised rugby coaches teams & sessions. The local grammar lads with amazing church / benefactor funded facilities play 4 times a week and Sat matches. Expert coaches.
Plus club. On top.
Their state team mates may play 45 mins once a week afterschool with a PE teacher / if it's on.

@LaPalmaLlama lift sharing is great if you are all nearby. Indeed some of the kids at the club arrive by bike... but the kids from the surrounding villages do need a driving parent. DD will never be able to get to the home club independently until she can drive... it would take 2 buses and around 90mins. And its a popular sport, nothing specialist. (Rugby).

@LaPalmaLlama I coach hockey too.
State kids - in our area it's not played in schools as they don't have suitable Astros.
Local private - all play.
Kids enter hockey yes if a parent plays but the top regional teams are 95% private school kids