Inclusive sports day events: team games for every ability
A sports day works best when every pupil has something they can do and something to cheer for. This guide collects team games and adaptations from four sources, and shows how to put them together for a house sports day.
Put mixed-ability pupils in the same team
Bishop Sport's sports day guide recommends organising pupils into mixed-ability teams and encouraging them to cheer for each other. It also advises including activities that cater to a range of skill levels. The guide is from a sports equipment retailer, so treat its product suggestions as such.
If your sports day is between houses, mixed-ability teams already happen naturally. Check that no house ends up with all the strongest athletes in one event, and that each event gives a pupil a role they can do.
Team games to try
Choose games where the whole team takes part, not only the fastest runners.
- From PE Hub: primary sports day games include a relay race, tug of war, an obstacle course, a bean bag throw and a water carry. In the team races, the first team to finish is the winner.
- From Bishop Sport: tug of war, parachute games and ball relays.
- From Active Stirling: the Primary Schools' Team Games are eight team challenges. They cover balance, agility, throwing and catching, coordination, and speed and endurance. Teams are four to six players. Schools can also run the games as inter-house competitions.
Pick a mix of skills. A team that wins on speed should not always win the day, so include a balance event and a throwing event too.
Adapt the activity, not just the pupil
Small changes to the rules can make a game work for more pupils.
- Change the distance or the equipment. PE Hub suggests changing the distances covered or the equipment used.
- Simplify a sport. Richard Crosse Primary ran an inclusive sports day with boccia and sitting volleyball. For sitting volleyball, pupils stayed seated on the gym floor and had to pass to three different friends before the balloon went over the net. The school wrote that adapting the rules made the playing field more level.
- Use ready-made guidance. Active Stirling offers teachers guidance on adapting its games for different groups.
Think about mixed-age teams
Active Stirling's team games have a mixed-age entry category alongside the single-year categories, described as a way to give inclusive and flexible participation. In a house sports day, mixed-age teams also let older pupils help younger ones, which fits the way many house systems work.
Celebrate effort as well as winning
Bishop Sport suggests medals, trophies and ribbons to celebrate participation and achievement. Richard Crosse Primary described the whole school cheering for every single effort. Decide before the day how you will recognise effort, and tell pupils.
Put it into a plan
These ideas fit into the rest of the day. The sports day planning checklist covers dates, roles, equipment, medical cover and families. The inter-house competition guide shows how a sports day fits into the whole year, and the house points ideas article covers how to show and reward points.