Primary School Bans Parents Attending Sports Day

A PRIMARY school has banned parents from attending sports days after staff and pupils were exposed to ‘threatening and intimidating’ behaviour.

Head teacher Sheena Duggan at Pentrebane school in Cardiff sent a letter to parents last week saying the angry behaviour had “worsened” over the past few years.

Mrs Duggan wrote: “As you know the safety, happiness and wellbeing of our pupils, your children, is paramount and so with that in mind I have made the difficult decision that future sports days will not be open to parents, according to The Sun.

“Unfortunately, over the last number of years, the behaviour of adults attending sports days has worsened.

“Staff have found themselves in the firing line of angry parents who can be threatening and intimidating. They have also been sworn at.

“This is bad enough but what is worse is that it takes place in front of children.

“It is very sad but I feel strongly that my staff and pupils do not come to school to be exposed to the bad behaviour of a small minority of adults.”

The letter was sent the day after the school’s annual sports day last week and came as a surprise to many parents.

sports day

A discussion on the TODAY Facebook page saw parents share their disappointment at the decision saying the kids are the ones that are punished the most by this move.

What do you think?

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24 Comments

- - Frankiielot said
  - 07 Aug 2022
    8:11 pm
Fair enough.
Reminds me of the movie Drop dead gorgeous where Denise Richards’ mum sabotages the other contestants.
Parents can be quite rude when it comes to their children but also I guess it’s instinct?!

- - mom81879 said
  - 24 Oct 2019
    2:43 pm
It’s a sad world where parents can’t go and watch their kids at sports carnivals. But even sadder that parents can’t go and watch their kids without being aggressive, violent or threatening

- - Blossom said
  - 19 Jul 2019
    10:42 pm
I wouldn’t force my child to go to school that day if he / she didn’t want to.
I don’t send my children to school to go to sports all day and for several part days leading up to it apart from normal sports and exercise classes.

- - DaffyD said
  - 12 Jul 2019
    9:21 am
I’d be so upset at being excluded. Why they just haven’t banned the problem parents is beyond me

- - mom119776 said
  - 07 Jul 2019
    10:47 pm
Wow thats crazy

- - mom101628 said
  - 06 Jul 2019
    11:08 pm
Can fully understand the Head Teachers comments – parents are often their own worst enemy when it comes to ‘cheering’ on their child.

- - tessie said
  - 06 Jul 2019
    2:25 pm
The problem is that parents behaving this way teaches the children that it is perfectly okay to act this way. Kudos to the school for promoting a zero tolerance to bullying. Maybe it will teach the parents a lesson. We can only hope

- - mom19782016 said
  - 06 Jul 2019
    1:10 pm
Clearly there has been a history of threatening behaviour towards teachers or students. Good on them for having zero tolerance of it.

- - becstalou said
  - 05 Jul 2019
    9:10 pm
It’s terrible that this sort of thing happens making the school feels they need to ban parents.

- - BellaB said
  - 05 Jul 2019
    6:46 pm
I think it might be better to target he badly behaved parents – might improve their behaviour, too!

- - rovermum said
  - 04 Jul 2019
    11:11 am
I have no issue with this. Why do parents need to go to their kids’ Sports Days? It interferes with what the kids are doing. I’ve seen some unpleasant behaviour at such events that has apalled me. I have no problem with this even though I was a parent who did go sometimes to help. I think the school can manage this well enough. And imagine the excitement when your child comes home from school to share the news of their Sports Day.

- - MisChip said
  - 03 Jul 2019
    10:28 pm
That’s very unfair to those doing the right thing. How awful to take the opportunity away from loving and fair parents. Ban those responsible.
- mom93821 replied
  
  04 Jul 2019 , 7:15 am
  I agree – it seems so unfair to ban parents doing the right thing.
- - serotonin said
  - 03 Jul 2019
    9:19 pm
I think they should just ban the culprits. A bit unfair to punish everyone for the actions of a certain few.

- - mom93821 said
  - 03 Jul 2019
    5:15 am
Unfortunately this ban punishes parents that know how to behave too.
Surely only parents that misbehave should be held accountable.
- Ellen replied
  
  07 Jul 2019 , 7:42 am
  Totally agree.
- - mom265671 said
  - 02 Jul 2019
    11:28 pm
It’s understandable

- - ashna9 said
  - 02 Jul 2019
    10:02 pm
I think it’s a fair call in this instance.

- - Ellen said
  - 02 Jul 2019
    9:13 pm
When parents can’t behave it’s logical they get banned, however it’s sad that good behaving parents get banned because of bad behaving parents.

- - rnash02 said
  - 02 Jul 2019
    7:47 pm
I think it’s understandable, some parents do get competitive

- - mom129591 said
  - 02 Jul 2019
    3:48 pm
I think the involvement can go to far by some parents. They get too caught up in their own heads which can cause aggressive behaviour. Unfortunately this stops they game from being a fun healthy activity.

- - mom206279 said
  - 02 Jul 2019
    1:55 pm
You really have to wonder when the children are the mature ones.