British school sports in the winter

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t0dd

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I'm writing a MG fantasy involving a shape-shifting trickster who's targeting a classmate of the MC (who, in turn, is after the trickster, attempting to catch it).

In an upcoming scene, the trickster pranks the MC's classmate during a games class. Both the MC and her classmate are 11-year-old girls in England, and my initial idea was field hockey practice, but I wasn't certain whether it would fit the surroundings.

There are two definite elements in the context: 1. The story's set in January.
2. The MC's an American girl who's just moved to England with her family. (I mention this for the sake of completeness - if it's unlikely she'd actually be taking part in the practice, I can still have her watching on the sidelines; she's aware at this point that the trickster is after the classmate, and intends to step in and counter it if the trickster shows up.)

If field hockey practice would be wrong for that time of the year in England, what likely PE activity would fit?
 

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Depending on your environment, you might consider cross country -- school version of marathon runs. Plenty of opportunity to strike there.

But field hockey would work. You might also consider netball. Girl's rugby was offered at my school, so another option.
 

Old Hack

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I live in the Peak District, where we get a lot of snow.

I've seen children out running (both along suburban roads and out here in the countryside) throughout the year, and yes, I've seen them running up here even when there's snow on the ground. (Note that most of the UK doesn't get much snow.)

When I was at school in the 1970s the girls played netball or hockey and the boys played football. Now, it's more common for all pupils to do all sports.

It's not called field hockey here, just hockey. But it's not as common now as it was when I was at school.
 

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Lashings is just so fifties and dated, what ho. :)

Yeah, when I was at school it was hockey, netball or cross-country running for the girls in winter plus PE - you had at least two sports sessions a week, one was PE in the gym, the other was usually a double period and was outdoor - and it was very rare for it to be cancelled by bad weather. If they were worried about damage to the hockey pitches because they were so wet, that was when everyone got sent out to do cross country running and damage someone else's land. There was a canal tow path and it was often ankle deep in mud, with the occasional passing horse muck. Cue lots of children squelching along in aertex T shirts and shorts mud splattered up their legs.
These days I think there is more in the way of floodlit sports areas and even fake astroturf rather than real grass and mud. The poor kids might even be allowed to wear tracksuit trousers rather than having to run into sleet wearing shorts with their legs turning mauve.
 

t0dd

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Thanks for the comments, everyone.

I saw the setting as somewhere in the English-Welsh border area (definitely in England, but the part of it close to the edge of Wales like Shropshire - though I never specified which county it was). I don't know if that would help narrow down the most probable activities or not, but in case it does...

Since a couple of posts mentioned the weather - in the book, there is a fairly heavy snow (treated as a rare event) - heavy enough to allow clearly visible animal tracks in the snow (which plays a major role in that part of the story), but which has melted (or almost all melted) by the first school day after the Christmas holidays. (The snow falls during the night between New Year's Eve and New Year's Day.) At most, there'd be a bit of slush left over on the first school day.
 
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I went to a boys school in SE England but we played (field) hockey in the winter too. And yes, even in the snow if it wasn't too deep on the pitch.

Note: nobody in England would say "field hockey" - it's just hockey, as opposed to ice hockey, which hardly anyone plays here.
 
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waylander

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Is this a fee-paying or state school?
 

neandermagnon

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I don't know. That hasn't come up in the story yet.

I was about to ask the same question. You need to know before you start writing about the school because they are very different. Brits will be able to tell it's a private or state school even if the topic of fees/money never comes up, and also will know if the writer has confused the two and is just relying on hearsay and stereotypes.

Also as they're 11, are they at primary or secondary school? If they have only just turned 11 they'll be in year 6 and the oldest kids in primary school. If they're turning 12 later in the school year they'll be in year 7 and at secondary school and the youngest kids in the school. This makes a massive difference to the school as primary and secondary schools are very different.

All my answers are from a state school perspective as I went to state school. And it's based on England (you said your school's definitely in England... Welsh schools are an entirely different kettle of fish. Many of them teach in Welsh, for starters...) And I'm a parent and used to be a teacher so I know how things are in schools now compared to how they used to be.

In primary school they'll have one teacher who teaches all or nearly all their subjects, which may include PE too. They may occasionally have lessons with specialist teachers (this could be PE). They will spend most of the day in the same classroom with their class teacher. PE would be done in the PE hall - or school hall if it's a small school - or on the field. In the hall is much more likely in January as primary school teachers tend to be a bit gentler and kinder about making kids go running around in the rain. Plus they'll be coming back to their classroom soaking wet (as opposed to secondary school where they'll be making some other teacher's classroom soaking wet). Even if it's not raining, the pitch will be very muddy.

In secondary school they will have each lesson in a different classroom (or specialist room like a science lab for science and the school field or sports hall for PE) with a specialist teacher and there will be a school bell (or buzzer or similar) indicating when each lesson ends. As they're year 7s and it's only January (start of the 2nd term), this will be new to them and still feel like quite a big deal, though they should know their way around well enough by January to not get lost.

Your character won't be allowed to not participate in PE. It's compulsory. You'd need a medical reason to not participate and some schools will require a doctors letter to verify this, as there's often a problem with parents allowing kids to skive PE by writing letters asking for them to be excused over trivial things. This is more of a problem in secondary school than primary school.

School PE tries to be inclusive so children with long term medical conditions or disabilities will be included in PE, i.e. expected to participate albeit with modifications to the activities. Many state schools will include children with disabilities right across the curriculum.

Type of activity: any sport or exercise activity would be fine as PE is a lot more varied nowadays compared to how it used to be. Certain things like having "boys" sports and "girls" sports is frowned upon (and against discrimination laws), and it's frowned upon to just offer traditional team sports like rugby and football (soccer). Secondary schools usually can offer a wider range of activities however primary schools with specialist PE teachers may still be able to offer a wide range. The PE curriculum will include exercise activities that aren't sport or competitive, e.g. dance, aerobics, circuit training. Activities like gymnastics are usually done in a non-competitive way. If they've got the equipment they'll also include things like trampolining and table tennis. Athletics is more often done in the summer and rugby is more often done in winter (injuries are more likely when the ground's hard) cricket, tennis, baseball and rounders tend to be summer sports. Football, (field) hockey and netball are more often done in winter. Indoor sports may be done in winter if the weather's really bad. Most schools have an indoor sports hall as well as pitches etc. When I was at school indoor PE and outdoor PE were timetabled separately and you went outdoors regardless of the weather but that depends on the school. Also, unless the PE teacher is specially trained to teach rugby, rugby will be non-contact (tag rugby - instead of tackling you pull a tag off your opponent.) That is the same for primary and secondary schools, though secondary schools are more likely to have at least one PE teacher who can teach full contact rugby. Also England Rugby has rules about what contact can be done at what age so that's another thing to research if you choose for them to be doing rugby in school PE.

If you wanted a scenario where your character was watching from the sidelines while a friend participated in sports, then maybe the friend goes to an after school sports club. If there's a school team, they will train after school. Private schools tend to do much better than state schools at running school teams, though some state schools have good school teams at some sports. After school sports clubs won't just be for the selected team. Inclusion is considered more important than sporting excellence in state schools and often there aren't enough numbers to be that choosy about who's in the school team - it may be a case of having to actively recruit more players just to have enough to make a complete team.
 
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Sonya Heaney

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I live in the Peak District, where we get a lot of snow.

It's not called field hockey here, just hockey. But it's not as common now as it was when I was at school.

Firstly: you have no idea how jealous I am. I love the Peak District so, so much.

Secondly: yes. "Field hockey" is an Americanism. For the rest of us there's "ice hockey" and "hockey".
 

t0dd

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Thanks for the information.

The school's a primary school - though I've depicted it as having different teachers for different classes. (That stemmed from my attending a primary school in England for a few years as a boy which *did* have several teachers rather than just one - though it was a Montessori school.)
 

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I was about to ask the same question. You need to know before you start writing about the school because they are very different. Brits will be able to tell it's a private or state school even if the topic of fees/money never comes up, and also will know if the writer has confused the two and is just relying on hearsay and stereotypes.

Very true.

Also as they're 11, are they at primary or secondary school? If they have only just turned 11 they'll be in year 6 and the oldest kids in primary school. If they're turning 12 later in the school year they'll be in year 7 and at secondary school and the youngest kids in the school. This makes a massive difference to the school as primary and secondary schools are very different.

My youngest son and I both have summer birthdays, and had our 11th birthdays shortly before starting our first year at secondary school, so Year 7.

Firstly: you have no idea how jealous I am. I love the Peak District so, so much.

You've not seen the state of my house. Building Site. Covered in filth. These moors are dirty. (But it is rather grand in a somewhat decrepit way.)

The school's a primary school - though I've depicted it as having different teachers for different classes. (That stemmed from my attending a primary school in England for a few years as a boy which *did* have several teachers rather than just one - though it was a Montessori school.)

Even in Montessori schools, in primary schools classes tend to have just one teacher for all the various subjects. At least, that was true of the Montessori schools my friends' children went to.

If this is a primary school then a lot of the options we've given you for various sports aren't going to apply. I don't know any primary schools that allow their pupils to do cross country running, for example, or rugby. It's mostly football, netball, gym.
 

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Would hockey still work? Or is that too "secondary school"?

I'm now leaning towards making the scene an after-school practice session - which the MC isn't officially part of, but is attending on the sidelines to keep a protective eye on the other girl because she (the other girl) is the trickster's leading target - especially because that approach made much of the story fall into place better; I was going to have the MC intend on that day (Monday) to do something important in gathering more information about the trickster that could help her catch it, but needs of the plot demanded that she'd be delayed until Tuesday - and her attending the practice session (which would be important in providing an "escalation moment" in the trickster's clashing with the other girl) offered an explanation for why she doesn't manage to do that "something important" until the next day.
 

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I didn't play hockey at primary school. Just at secondary. And my children's primary schools didn't have hockey as an option either.
 

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I've never heard of hockey at a primary school. The nearest we got to dangerous wooden weapons was rounders. We played lots of rounders. It's a bit like baseball but not played professionally that I'm aware of. There was usually just the one bat and you dropped it once you'd hit the ball and were running round the bases. Usually played with a tennis ball. Played indoors and out. Definitely no throwing the ball to hit a player running round the bases.
Gym would include tag types of games.

Does it have to be sport? Could it be a school orchestra practice? I never stayed behind for any sports, or was aware of any inter-school sports matches that would have needed after school training - but Christmas play (with nativity theme), school choir and school orchestra - or even the dreaded massed plastic recorders - they certainly stayed behind after classes.
 
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Sophia

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I don't recall any PE in my junior school (ages 8 - 11) except swimming. It began properly in secondary school (ages 11 - 16), where we had netball, hockey, and gym as the main staples, with cross-country running, and various athletics at different times of the year. Primary school is ages 5 - 8, I thought. That was definitely just running about at playtime; no organised PE.

Edit: Actually, no, there must have been some PE in junior school. I just recalled a memory of a friend getting stitch during an athletics class.
 
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neandermagnon

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Primary school is ages 5 - 8, I thought.

These days, primary school is from reception to year 6. Though some are broken down into infant school (or first school) which is usually reception to year 2, then junior school, usually year 3-6. But there are a few places left that still have non-standard systems. Part of Dorset has middle schools, which are from year 4-8, then secondary starts in year 9. Though where I live it's the standard reception to year 6 for primary and year 7 to 11 or 13 for secondary.

Neither of my kids have played hockey at school, including the older one who's at secondary and about to start year 9. Primary school doesn't tend to focus much on traditional sports. They focus more on participation and getting kids to enjoy exercise. Rather than hockey, you're more likely to find sockey (at least I played that a lot at primary school) - using large stuffed socks as "sticks" and a beanbag as a ball. Traditional sports are played more at secondary school, alongside various other forms of exercise.

Plausible sports for primary school after school clubs (and a team if the school's big enough to have the numbers) would be football* or tag rugby. These are likely to be mixed gender at primary school age. They're unlikely to have the numbers to run a girls' club and quite often struggle with numbers for a boys club.

*soccer
 

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Nowadays if it's too cold in January, sports will move indoors when it comes to primary school. Jan-Feb can be some of the coldest periods, usually with snow.

I have an 8-year-old in year 4; year 6 = 11-12.

Girls and boys sports stay mixed until they go up to secondary school: year 7. Outside they'll be doing football, rounders, basic tennis outside, along with ball skills. If it's moved into the hall because of the weather, it's gymnastics, fitness class, handball, yoga exercises etc.
 

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Thanks for the comments, everyone.

I saw the setting as somewhere in the English-Welsh border area (definitely in England, but the part of it close to the edge of Wales like Shropshire - though I never specified which county it was). I don't know if that would help narrow down the most probable activities or not, but in case it does...

Since a couple of posts mentioned the weather - in the book, there is a fairly heavy snow (treated as a rare event) - heavy enough to allow clearly visible animal tracks in the snow (which plays a major role in that part of the story), but which has melted (or almost all melted) by the first school day after the Christmas holidays. (The snow falls during the night between New Year's Eve and New Year's Day.) At most, there'd be a bit of slush left over on the first school day.

I grew up in North Malvern in Worcestershire, just a little south of Shropshire. It’s hilly enough there that we’d often go out walking on the hills for our exercise. I don’t remember playing organized sports until secondary school, but my primary school was tiny (maybe 100 students in all) and didn’t have a sports field. I do remember snow being treacherous because of the hill. If you slipped walking across the playground (which was a very steep, tarmac’d slope) you’d find yourself in the fence at the bottom of the hill.

(My mum did grow up in Shropshire and her experience was very similar to mine, except without the ridiculous school playground).

If you haven’t read it yet, check out Alan Garner’s The Weirdstone of Brisingman for a feel of the countryside in that part of the world (it’s set further to the north, but much rings true to my experiences).
 

mistri

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We only did netball in my primary school. And I've only heard of one teacher per year group (with knowledge of schools in the north west and south east but not much in between).
 

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If you haven’t read it yet, check out Alan Garner’s The Weirdstone of Brisingman for a feel of the countryside in that part of the world (it’s set further to the north, but much rings true to my experiences).

Thanks for mentioning it. I enjoyed "The Weirdstone of Brisingamen" a lot, and thought earlier today (before reading your post) that I really should reread it soon.
 

t0dd

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I made some changes to my plans, but wound up needing such a scene, if a bit different than how I'd first intended. I'd like the right details to make certain that I'll be writing it correctly.

In the current version: the PE scene takes place indoors due to bad weather. The Bogle (the book's antagonist, a magical shape-shifting creature who's got a vendetta against a classmate of the MC's) is lurking invisibly in the room where it's taking place. When the children are playing some sort of ball game, the Bogle keeps arranging (through a bit of its magic) for the ball to head regularly for the classmate it's targeting (making it look as if it's some freak "bouncing off various objects" that, by coincidence, always heads for that particular girl) - until the MC notes this and steps in to drive the Bogle off.

What sort of ball game would best fit these conditions? (And if a ball game would be inappropriate for that setting, what kind of activity in that setting would best fit the Bogle's scheme as described above?)
 

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Do they play 'Dodgeball' in Britain? Two teams try to hit each other with balls, while avoiding being hit by the opponents shots?
Or volleyball? No intention to hit people, but with a ball flying over the net, things happen.
 
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