The Importance of School Sports Days to the BGS community  

This week, Assistant Head, Mrs Axford, guest writes on the Headmistress blog about community spirit of Sports Day events.

Last Tuesday, at about four o’clock in the afternoon, with the cheers of the last relay still ringing in my ears, I got back to my office after senior sports day was over. The students of Hepburn, one of the six Houses that make up the BGS community, had been crowned overall winners.

Now that everyone was all back in Cardington Road again, I thought that perhaps those of us wearing the red shirts of Austen might be crestfallen, and the purple Chanel’s, and the green, yellow and orange teams of Nightingale, Franklin and Parks feeling perhaps defeated. But as BGS students and staff prepared to head home that afternoon, defeat was far from the mood. The whole school was abuzz. The energy and excitement were palpable. Everywhere there were bright eyes and happy smiles. 

And I paused as I tidied my desk, to think why that was, and why events like these mean so much to school life.

A community event like school sports day is something to cherish: a golden moment in the busy school calendar when, for once, everything stops and everyone comes together – not just for twenty minutes in a whole school assembly, but joins together, with a shared focus, for a whole extended afternoon. Especially in an era dominated by technology and screens, where social connections can often feel distant, I think the significance of sports day is huge. 

And what is the winning formula to a successful sports day? One that leaves everyone energised, and has made everyone smile, as it did last Thursday? 

Sunny weather helps of course. Other things also play a part: we are very fortunate to be able to host our sports days at the athletics track. To be able to walk from school makes it feel like such a natural transition for the whole community. And everyone was energised by ice creams; thank you to the PTA, The Association, for providing these, another key ingredient of course to ensuring a successful event!  

But I believe the heart of the success of sports Days at BGS lies in the way our school House system works. The premise for everyone is built around their House winning the Sports Day Cup. And the fact that all students – and all staff – are placed in one of our six Houses, means that there is shared interest and engagement across the entire school community.  

And last Thursday, what strength of engagement there was! On the morning, the school was a sea of colour, with everyone in House T-shirts, and the smell of face-paint hitting you, from the hundreds of colourfully striped faces. As the day unfolds, there are moments of brilliance – the look of sheer joy and surprise when someone who never expected to win crosses the line first! The sound of the bell as competitors approach the final lap, and there are the bags of effort expended in every race! Records are broken – fewer each year now BGS is in its second decade, and it gets harder to beat the many who have come before… As the Day moves towards its conclusion, the relays bring each year group leaping to their feet out of the stands. The joy of the last-leg winner as they cross the line! And that joy again as the rest of their team appear from different corners of the track, all coming together in huge hugs as they are awarded their medals! And as the runners in the final  senior relay came round the last bend, there was the most almighty sound of cheering from the stand, with the whole of the senior school and staff up on their feet, the entire community united.

Of course, only one House can win the day. So yes, as everyone walked back to school, you might think that 5/6ths of the school community would be, perhaps, downhearted. But the corridors were full of energy and excitement and smiles. These smiles and the energy and excitement have come because the students have loved being part of a team – their House team – and have loved being a part of something so much bigger than themselves, a community, a big, happy, strong, caring, cohesive and meaningful community. The power of BGS community is something for us all to enjoy, and to shape, and to treasure.

And for a fortunate few, the anticipation of reliving it all doesn’t require a year-long wait! Brace yourselves as the Junior Sports Day arrives on Thursday 6^th July, 12:30-3:45 pm. Join us and create unforgettable memories together!