Sports days get the 'zone concept'

Sports day can involve a lot of doing nothing

Traditional school sports days based on athletic-type competitions are being supplemented by less demanding games that everyone can join in.

The body which promotes sport in England has come up with the "zone concept", with team building-type, problem-solving exercises and more "inclusive" activities.

Sport England has produced a £15 "tool kit" for primary school sports days with 28 activity cards and a teachers' manual.

It hopes this will get more children off the bench and onto the field - especially the growing numbers of overweight ones who most need the exercise.

It says traditional sports days can promote "enthusiastic competition" between teams and provide an opportunity for parents to watch pupils being active.

But it says this means that for the majority, the main contribution may be "enthusiastic support" of the few taking part.

Herding sheep

"For others, being comprehensively beaten in front of their peers and losing vital points for their team is likely to be far from enjoyable," it says.

One alternative that is suggested is "stranded sheep".

The pupils who are the "sheep" are blindfolded then guided to various starting positions around the game area.

The pupil who is the "shepherd" goes in the centre, armed with a whistle.

No running

On the start signal, the shepherd has to guide the blindfolded sheep into a roped-off "sheep pen" using whistle signals, as quickly as possible.

The illustration accompanying the instructions has, by way of an example, a child in a wheelchair as the shepherd.

"Pupils should use the Problem-Solving Preparation Zone to work out a system of whistle signals that they are going to use," the instructions say.

"Sheep must walk, not run."

Competitive spirit

A spokesperson for the Department for Culture, Media and Sport said the move was not about doing away with competition.

"In fact we are spending £120m over three years to try to improve competitive sport in schools, not get rid of it," he said.

"But there's a lot of 'dead' time in a sports day - you can only have eight kids running the 100 metres and only one doing the long jump at a time, so what the hundreds of others do is a real issue."

They could become bored and disruptive - so the tool kit provides a list of things they can be doing.

"These are activities which can be run alongside the normal sports day we all knew and - depending on whether you won or not - loved."