Teach Primary Issue 19.5

Use sports day as an opportunity to demonstrate how perseverance and resilience can fuel personal growth and success for pupils S ports day is one of the few dates in the educational calendar that focuses exclusively on skills learnt outside of the classroom. Learning new skills is fundamental to healthy, human development, and can come in many forms, including physical, emotional, social and mental. Although we all recognise the power of acquiring knowledge, we also know that cultivating a child’s emotional and mental attributes, such as grit and resilience, is just as important to their life outcomes as their retention of academic information. Grit focuses on passion and perseverance towards goals, whilst resilience emphasises the ability to adapt and bounce back from setbacks. To help children to adapt to the challenges of today and to face up to the demands of tomorrow, nurturing these development areas during childhood is essential, as this is where brain growth is most prolific ( tinyurl.com/tp-EIF ) . We also know that many children respond well to lessons learnt in novel environments, including the morning or afternoon of teamwork and friendly competition on the school playing field. To make the most of the opportunity, we can think about how we use sports day to foster the toolkit of skills that underpins the essential attributes of grit and resilience, including self-awareness, creativity, trust, and empathy. Are you ready? As well as delivering healthy physical activity, sports such as running, jumping or team relays emphasise discipline, collective responsibility and goal setting, all of which are crucial components of grit. Dealing with disappointment when losing can also be turned into learning experiences, whereby failure is perceived as a stepping stone to improvement. Resilience is not about instant success, but a continuous journey of personal growth. Taking part in sport also empowers children to take control of their own learning. This should involve educators and parents being responsible without being over- protective. If youngsters are never allowed to wobble, trip, stumble or fall, they miss out on the experience to know what it’s like to get back up again. Activities that offer some negative emotion, such as feeling nervous or unstable in the moment, counterbalanced by positive emotions such as joy, pride and attentiveness, underpin a ‘steeling effect’. This helps to enable young people to handle more significant risks in the future. So, here are five practical ways to help you True GRIT DR JOHN ALLAN “We know that many children respond well to lessons learnt in novel environments” www.teachwire.net | 27 F EATURE S S POR T S DA Y