The school that does Sports Day differently

Nestled up on a hill, sitting just beneath a Medieval castle in Llangollen, Ysgol Dinas Brân’s Sports Day, which this year falls on the last day of term, is a little different than what is traditionally offered.

Arial view of part of the field on Sports Day

An assembly kicks off the day, with a presentation of the year’s achievements displayed on the Sports Hall wall, supported by a soundtrack provided by a pupil-formed band, who impressively cover a number of Oasis’ greatest hits. The presentation also included teacher’s stories of their sporting pasts, signifying the importance of sport throughout school.

Once the presentation is over, the Sports Day (which has also formerly been referred to as ‘The Dinas Brân Olympics’) commences.

Pupil-formed band playing at presentation

Setting up the day is a big task, and starts early in the day, with the Head of Department for P.E., Neil Garvey, and other staff arriving at 6am to prepare.

By 9am, set up in the middle of the school field are a number a 5-a side pitches, a mini golf course with multiple holes, and an inflatable obstacle course. Further along the field sits a massive inflatable dart board for ‘foot darts’ (played with footballs in place of the more traditional darts), a tall climbing wall, and both football and rugby target practice, respectively. Also on offer is a Tug of War contest, canoeing at the nearby canal, Just Dance sessions, and more traditional events such as running races (100m, 400m) and shotput.

Climbing Wall

An Ice Cream Van and a snack stall are the menu of the day with teachers getting to choose the soundtrack to the events. Although an element of competitiveness will always be the case with some events, this day is ultimately set up to have fun and try new experiences.

Once on the field, some pupils rush to get all geared-up to scale the climbing wall, others grasp tightly onto their putters as they traverse the mini-golf section of the field. The variety on offer means that a whole host of hobbies and activities are represented on this Sports Day.

There are no leaderboards, charts or placements for a vast majority of the activities on offer today, as participation is the aim for this sports day, with the idea being that the wide array of activities will help with pupil participation and engagement.

Year groups all take their turn throughout the day taking part in the numerous activities spread across two school fields (and part of Llangollen’s famous Canal) as they run, climb, kick, putt, paddle and jump in the name of a tweaked and different Sports Day, which feels more of a celebration than a competition.

In the afternoon, staff take their turn, with staff sack races set up, where teachers hop head-to-head to reach the finish line first, with pupils cheering them on.

Neil Garvey, Head of Department for P.E. explained:

“Our Sports Day is a little different than your traditional Sports Day. We changed our approach to Sports Day around 12 years ago to try and increase the number of pupils participating in the events.

The previous Head of Department, Helen Davies, set this up, we sat down as a team to come up with ideas to help change the whole idea of a ‘Sports Day’ to get more pupils involved. This was her idea, and is something that we have built on year on year. Each year we have added new events, and partnered up with local businesses in the area to get things such as a big inflatable obstacle course and the climbing wall.

Since we made the tweaks, the number of pupils participating have gone through the roof. You can see on their faces, the pupils really enjoy this approach to Sports Day.”

Jimi, pupil at Ysgol Dinas Brân said:

“I think Dinas Brân’s sports day is actually the best sports day you could ever have! You have all sorts of events like rock climbing and football, anything you’d want to do really.

This year I’ve most enjoyed the climbing wall, as I’d never really done it before and some of the athletics.”

Pupil tries Foot Darts

Maggie, another pupil at Ysgol Dinas Brân said:

“Ysgol Dinas Brân does an excellent Sports Day as it gives a chance to pupils who don’t usually do sports a chance to try new activities.

I’ve really enjoyed the inflatable obstacle course with my friends and the races.”

Mark Hatch, Head Teacher at Ysgol Dinas Brân said:

“The whole purpose of this format is for health and wellbeing, and getting out there. It’s an inclusive day which has everyone trying something new, being active and enjoying themselves.

It’s all about getting the pupils out there, enjoying something different and giving them a whole new set of experiences, and to create a really fun day too.”