Sports Day
Planning Pack
and Running Order

Everything you need to plan a sports day, from six weeks out to the final whistle. Written for nurseries and early years settings, primary schools, secondary schools, colleges and universities.

Phases: Early years · Primary · Secondary · College and university
Pages: 12 Format: Printable PDF and editable Word From: {{SITE_NAME}}

Read this first

This pack is a planning aid written by and for education staff. It is not health and safety advice, not first-aid advice and not legal advice. Everything to do with risk, supervision, medical cover, medication, consent and emergency procedure is governed by your own setting's policies, and those policies take precedence over every word here.

Where you see adapt to your setting's own policy, stop and check.

What is inside

The six-week countdown — concrete weekly tasks, with a role against each one
Jobs list by role — fifteen roles, what each does, how many you need
Event list — track, field, whole-group and inclusive events by phase
Running order grid — a full worked example with real timings, the timing arithmetic so you can redo it for your own numbers, a blank grid, and the shape of the day for each phase
Equipment list — everything, grouped by where it is used
Site plan grid — a full landscape page to mark lanes, seating, first aid and access
Wet-weather plan — four options, two ready-made short running orders, and the hot-weather checklist
After the day — what to record for next year

How the phase blocks work

The core of this pack is written to suit any setting. Where the phase genuinely changes what you do, you will find a shaded Swap-in by phase block. Take the line for your phase and ignore the rest; in the editable version, delete the others before you circulate it.

Throughout, setting means your nursery, school, college or university, and parent or carer means whoever is responsible for a child. For post-16 provision, participants are adults and communication goes to them directly.

{{SITE_NAME}}Sports Day Planning PackPage 1 of 12

Part 1 · The six-week countdownSports Day Planning Pack

Each week has concrete tasks and a named role. With a smaller team one person holds several roles; the tasks do not change. The countdown assumes a single-site event on your own grounds — if you are hiring a track or a leisure facility, add a week at the front for booking and a site visit.

Week 6 — Fix the date and the shape of the day

☐	Task	Who
	Confirm the date and a reserve date. Check it against every other calendar: trips, exams, assessment windows, inspections, other year groups, local events	Event lead
	Confirm start and finish times, and whether it is a morning, an afternoon or a whole day	Event lead
	Decide the format: whole setting together, or split by phase or year group across the day	Event lead
	Decide whether it is competitive, non-competitive, or competitive with a participation element	Event lead with senior leadership
	Decide whether houses or teams are used, and how participants are allocated	Event lead
	Put the date in the setting calendar, on the website and in the newsletter	Office
	Book the site: field, track, hall, any external facility	Event lead and site team
	Tell the catering team the date and ask what changes for them	Office
	Tell the site or premises team, and book them for the day itself	Site team
	Check whether any external provider is needed (first-aid cover, equipment hire, public address) and what the lead time is	Event lead

Swap-in by phase

Early years: Keep the whole event to about 45 to 60 minutes of activity. Plan it around session times and the nap or quiet period, not a timetable. Decide now whether parents and carers join in with their child — it changes the numbers on site considerably.
Primary: Decide now whether infants (Reception to Year 2) and juniors (Years 3 to 6) run together or separately. Separately is less tiring for younger children and easier to marshal; together is better for families with children in both.
Secondary: Check the examination timetable before anything else. Decide whether the day is compulsory for all year groups, and confirm who supervises any year group not taking part.
College and university: Check it against assessment deadlines and placement weeks. Decide whether it is a timetabled activity or voluntary — that changes attendance planning and whether you can require anyone to be there. Decide whether staff teams compete.

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Part 1 · The six-week countdownWeeks 5 and 4

Week 5 — Events, entries and people

☐	Task	Who
	Choose the event list from Part 3, and cut it to what you can actually run in the time	Event lead and PE lead
	Decide the number of lanes or stations your site allows. This governs the whole running order	PE lead and site team
	Draft the running order using Part 4. Put real times against it	Event lead
	Count participants per year group or class and write the numbers down	Office
	Decide how participants enter events: everyone in everything, selection, or free choice	PE lead
	Draft the jobs list from Part 2, with names against each job	Event lead
	Ask for volunteers — staff, support staff, senior participants, parents or carers if your policy allows	Event lead
	Check first-aid arrangements: named first aider, where they will be, what cover is required adapt to your setting's own policy	Event lead with health and safety lead
	Complete or review the risk assessment for the event, in your own policy's format adapt to your setting's own policy	Named under your policy
	Check accessibility: who needs an adapted event, a different route onto the field, a quieter or shaded space, a seat, a level surface, an interpreter, or a familiar adult nearby	Inclusion lead
	Check participants with medical needs against the day's plan — heat, exertion, medication timing, inhalers, insulin, allergies adapt to your setting's own policy	Named under your policy

Swap-in by phase

Early years: Everyone takes part in everything; there is no selection. Plan a familiar adult within sight of every group at all times, and a quiet space off the field from the start.
Primary: Everyone usually takes part in everything in infants. In juniors, whole-class events plus some selected events works well, provided every child is in at least two things.
Secondary: Entry by choice with a minimum of one or two events per participant avoids the familiar problem of the same twelve people doing everything. Set a closing date for entries now.
College and university: Entry is voluntary and usually by team or course group. Publish the entry form and the closing date now, and name the person who holds the entry list.

Week 4 — Tell everyone

☐	Task	Who
	Send the letter or notice (resource 05): date, times, arrival, what to wear, sun protection, wet weather, spectators, photography	Office
	Publish the same information on the website and on whatever app or platform you use	Office
	State clearly how and when a cancellation will be announced, and where people should look	Office
	Confirm spectator arrangements: where they stand or sit, seating, accessible toilets, where they must not go	Event lead
	Confirm the photography position under your own policy, and how you will communicate it adapt to your setting's own policy	Office with data protection lead
	Order or check anything with a lead time: house-colour tops, ribbons, stickers, medals, certificates, line paint, bottled water	Office
	Book external first-aid cover now if your policy requires it adapt to your setting's own policy	Office
	Confirm catering: timings, packed lunches, water, spectator refreshments	Office and catering
	Arrange the public address or sound system, and check somebody knows how to work it	Site team

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Part 1 · The six-week countdownWeeks 3, 2 and 1

Swap-in by phase — who you write to in week 4

Early years: Parents and carers. Say plainly whether they are expected to attend and whether they are expected to join in, and say what happens to children whose parent or carer cannot come — that is the question you will be asked.
Primary: Parents and carers. Expect high spectator numbers for infants.
Secondary: Parents or carers and participants. Participants need the detail about kit and timings more than their parents do.
College and university: Communicate directly with participants as adults. A parent-facing letter is not appropriate; use the participant version in resource 05.

Week 3 — Make the paperwork

☐	Task	Who
	Produce heat sheets and lane allocations (resource 02)	PE lead
	Produce scoring sheets and the house points tracker (resource 03)	PE lead
	Print certificates, or blanks to write on the day (resource 04)	Office
	Produce marshal packs — one each: their events, heat sheets, pen, whistle, clipboard, running order, site plan, and who to find in an emergency	Event lead
	Produce the announcer's script: running order, how to pronounce every name, the safety notices to read out, and the wet-weather announcement	Event lead
	Draw the site plan (Part 6). Mark lanes, start and finish, seating, first aid, water, toilets, equipment store and the emergency vehicle route	Site team and event lead
	Confirm the registration or roll-call method for the day adapt to your setting's own policy	Office
	Check every piece of equipment against Part 5 and list what is missing	PE lead

Week 2 — Rehearse

☐	Task	Who
	Walk the site with the running order in your hand. Time the walk between events — this is where running orders fall apart	Event lead and PE lead
	Brief every marshal, in person, with their pack. Fifteen minutes now saves an hour on the day	Event lead
	Practise the events with participants at least once, especially anything with a baton, a relay change-over, a hurdle or a bean bag	PE lead or class staff
	Practise sitting down and standing up again with the youngest groups. It takes longer than anyone expects	Class staff
	Confirm house or team allocations and tell participants which they are in	PE lead
	Test the sound system on the field, outdoors, with the wind	Site team
	Fix the equipment gaps found in week 3 — borrow, buy, or cut the event	PE lead
	Confirm the wet-weather plan in full, including who makes the call and when (Part 7)	Event lead with senior leadership
	Send the reminder notice with final timings and the what-to-wear list	Office

Week 1 — The final week

☐	Task	Who
	Check the weather forecast daily from five days out	Event lead
	Mark out the field: lanes, start lines, finish lines, throwing and jumping areas, the spectator line	Site team
	Confirm first-aid cover and the first-aid point location adapt to your setting's own policy	Event lead
	Fill and site the water. Work out how many bottles or jugs and where — one point is never enough	Site team
	Count out and bag the equipment per event, labelled, so each marshal collects one bag	PE lead
	Print everything. Then print the spares: heat sheets, result slips, certificates	Office
	Final briefing for all staff, with the site plan and running order on a screen	Event lead
	Confirm who is on the gate, who registers spectators, and who manages the car park	Office and site team
	Set the cancellation decision time and tell everyone what it is	Event lead

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Part 1 · The day itselfPart 2 begins

The day itself

☐	Task	Who
	Early site check: surface, marked lines still visible, no litter, glass or fouling, no standing water, equipment intact	Site team
	Make the go or no-go call by the stated time, and communicate it immediately	Event lead
	Set out seating, shade, water, first-aid point, equipment	Site team
	Staff briefing, ten minutes, on the field	Event lead
	Sun protection reminder, and water before the start adapt to your setting's own policy	Class staff
	Registration or roll call adapt to your setting's own policy	Class staff
	Safety announcement to spectators: where to stand, where not to walk, what to do if someone is unwell, where first aid is	Announcer
	Run the events to the running order. The announcer calls the next event while the current one finishes	Announcer and marshals
	Collect result slips at the end of every event — not at the end of the day	Scorer
	Water and shade breaks at the planned points, and extra ones if it is hot	Class staff
	Totals, announcement, presentation	Scorer and event lead
	Collect all equipment, count it back in, store it	PE lead and site team
	Site clear: litter, bottles, equipment, signage	Site team
	Write down what went wrong while you still remember it	Event lead

Part 2 — Jobs list by role

Name a person against every role before the day. A role with no name against it is the role that fails. One person can hold two roles; nobody should hold three.

Role	What they do	How many
Event lead	Owns the plan, makes the weather call, holds the running order, is findable all day. Must not be marshalling an event	1
PE or sport lead	Designs events, heats and lane allocations; briefs marshals; owns the equipment	1
Announcer	Calls events, reads the safety notices, calls the next group forward, fills the gaps, announces results. The single biggest factor in whether the day runs to time	1
Timekeeper and starter	Starts races, times where timing is used. Should not also be judging places	1 or 2

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Part 2 · Jobs list by rolecontinued

Role	What they do	How many
Event marshals	Run one event each: collect the group, line them up, run it, record the result, send the group on	1 per concurrent event, plus 1 spare
Judges / place recorders	Stand at the finish and record 1st, 2nd, 3rd. Two per finish line is better than one	1 to 2 per finish line
Scorer	Collects result slips, enters them, keeps the running total, produces the final result	1, plus 1 checker
Group or class supervisors	Stay with their group all day: register, movement, water, sun protection, behaviour, comfort	1 per group, plus support staff as your ratios require adapt to your setting's own policy
First aider	As required by your own policy. Static at the first-aid point, clearly identifiable, given no other job	As your policy requires adapt to your setting's own policy
Site or premises	Marking out, equipment, seating, water, access, emergency vehicle route, clearing up	1 to 2
Office / front of house	Gate, spectator welcome, visitor signing-in, car park, enquiries, the telephone adapt to your setting's own policy	1 to 2
Photographer	One named person only, operating within your own policy. No one else photographs adapt to your setting's own policy	0 or 1
Refreshments	Water, and anything sold or offered to spectators	0 to 2
Runner	Carries result slips, fetches forgotten equipment, finds people. Invaluable; always cut first and always regretted	1

Swap-in by phase

Early years: Add a familiar adult per group as a non-negotiable, and a quiet space supervisor away from the noise. Ratios are set by your own policy and the statutory framework that applies to you adapt to your setting's own policy.
Primary: As the table. Senior participants (Years 5 and 6) make excellent helpers for infant events and it is good for them; they are helpers, not supervisors.
Secondary: Add house captains or sport leaders to run warm-ups and marshal minor events under staff supervision. Add a year group supervisor per year group on site.
College and university: Participants are adults, so group supervision largely falls away. Add an entries and results desk and, if the event is open to the public, a safeguarding lead on site adapt to your setting's own policy.

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Part 3 · Event listSports Day Planning Pack

Pick from these. Cutting the list is almost always the right call: a short day that runs to time beats a long one that overruns and ends in the rain.

Track, laned

Sprint — 25 m, 50 m, 60 m, 75 m or 100 m, depending on phase and the length of your field
Hurdles — over low foam or plastic hurdles
Relay — 4 × 25 m up to 4 × 100 m
Longer run — 150 m, 200 m, 400 m, 800 m, 1500 m
Obstacle race
Sack race
Egg and spoon
Bean-bag-on-head race
Dressing-up or "put on the kit" relay
Three-legged race — consider carefully; check against your own policy and your participants' needs

Field, stations

Standing long jump
Long jump, with a proper pit and rake or a marked landing area
Target throw — bean bag or ball at a hoop or target
Distance throw — foam javelin, bean bag or soft ball
Chest push, seated or standing
Speed bounce
Vertical jump
Welly throw

Whole-group and inclusive

Tug of war
Parachute game
Team scoring challenge — every member contributes a score
Multi-skills circuit — a loop of stations, everyone moves round together
Staff race — put it late in the day, it is always the most popular item, and check that staff are willing

Swap-in by phase

Early years: Short distances (15 to 25 m), no timing, no hurdles, strong visual markers at each end, and an adult at both ends of every run. Running towards a familiar adult works far better than running towards a line. Allow for the fact that a number of children will stop halfway, wave, or go the wrong way — and that this is entirely fine.
Primary: Infants: 25 to 50 m plus novelty events, everyone in everything. Juniors: 50 to 100 m, relays, longer runs, field events, hurdles with low foam hurdles.
Secondary: Recognised athletics events at standard distances where your site allows: 100 m, 200 m, 400 m, 800 m, 1500 m, relay, long jump, high jump, and shot, discus or javelin only with properly qualified supervision and a correctly set up throwing area adapt to your setting's own policy. Keep one or two novelty events; they get the most entries.
College and university: Standard athletics plus team events: tug of war, relay, five-a-side, a staff-versus-students fixture. Social events draw entries where serious athletics does not.

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Part 4 · Running order, with realistic timingsWorked example

Worked example — one-site primary, 8 classes of 30, 6 lanes

240 participants, one field, 6 lanes, 9.30 to 12.15. Two things make it work: events run in parallel on separate parts of the field, and the announcer calls the next group forward while the current event is finishing.

Time	Length	Track (6 lanes)	Field A	Field B	Notes
09.00	30 min	Site set-up, equipment out, water sited			Site team and PE lead
09.30	15 min	Participants out, seated by group, registration, water, sun protection			All staff
09.45	5 min	Welcome, safety announcement to spectators			Announcer
09.50	10 min	Whole-group warm-up			PE lead, from the centre
10.00	25 min	Sprint 50 m — Years 1 and 2 (120, 20 heats of 6)	Standing long jump — Year 3	Target throw — Year 4	20 heats at about 75 sec each including marshalling
10.25	25 min	Sprint 50 m — Years 3 and 4 (120, 20 heats)	Standing long jump — Year 1	Target throw — Year 2
10.50	15 min	Water and shade break — everyone			Non-negotiable. Do not skip it to catch up
11.05	20 min	Hurdles — Years 5 and 6 (120, 20 heats of 6)	Distance throw — Year 5	Speed bounce — Year 6	About 60 sec per heat
11.25	15 min	Egg and spoon — Years 1 and 2 (20 heats)	Bean-bag throw — Year 3	Chest push — Year 4	Novelty events run faster than sprints
11.40	20 min	Relay 4 × 50 m — all year groups, one team per class			8 to 10 races at about 2 min each
12.00	5 min	Staff race			Put it here. It wakes everybody up
12.05	10 min	Totals, result announcement, presentation			Scorer must have totals ready by 12.00
12.15	—	Finish. Groups off the field by class
12.15	30 min	Clear site, equipment counted in			Site team

The timing arithmetic, so you can redo it for your own numbers

A six-lane sprint heat takes 60 to 90 seconds door to door: 20 to 30 seconds to get six participants onto the line, 10 to 20 seconds for the race, 20 to 30 seconds to clear the finish and record the places. Use 75 seconds as your planning figure, and 90 seconds for Reception and Year 1.

People	Lanes	Heats	75 sec	90 sec
30	6	5	6 min	8 min
60	6	10	13 min	15 min
120	6	20	25 min	30 min
120	8	15	19 min	23 min
240	6	40	50 min	60 min
240	8	30	38 min	45 min

Event	Per heat or per person
Sprint, 6 lanes	60–90 sec per heat
Hurdles, 6 lanes	60–75 sec per heat
Egg and spoon, sack, novelty	45–60 sec per heat
Relay, one race	90–150 sec
Longer run (200 m+)	2–4 min per heat
Standing long jump	60–90 sec per person (3 attempts)
Target or distance throw	30–45 sec per person
Speed bounce	45 sec per person
Tug of war	3–5 min per pull

Four things that always eat the time

1. Moving groups between events — 3 to 5 minutes each time. Minimise moves, bring the event to the seated group where you can, and have the announcer call the next group forward early. 2. Lining up the youngest participants — up to 2 minutes per heat. Pre-sort them into heats while they are still seated and send them up in sixes. 3. Equipment not where it should be. Bag it per event, labelled, the day before. 4. Results not collected. The scorer chases the slip at the end of each event.

Build in slack: plan to finish 15 minutes before your stated finish time. You will use it.

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Part 4 · Running orderBlank grid and the shape of the day

Blank running order grid

Time	Length	Track	Field A	Field B	Who	Notes

The shape of the day, by phase

Early years — 45 to 60 minutes of activity in total

Time	Length	What
0.00	10 min	Out, seated on mats or a blanket, sun protection, water
0.10	5 min	Welcome, a song or a stretch
0.15	10 min	Running race, 15 to 25 m, in small groups, towards a familiar adult
0.25	10 min	Bean-bag-on-head or egg and spoon, same groups
0.35	5 min	Water and sit down
0.40	10 min	Parachute game or obstacle crawl, everyone together
0.50	5 min	Everyone gets a sticker or a certificate
0.55	—	Finish, back inside

No timing, no places announced, no leaderboard. Expect the whole thing to take 15 minutes longer than planned, and plan the rest of the session around that.

Secondary — a full day for a year group, or a carousel

Time	Length	What
09.00	30 min	Registration by house or tutor group, kit check, warm-up
09.30	90 min	Track heats running continuously; field events on a carousel in parallel
11.00	20 min	Break, water, shade
11.20	70 min	Track finals; remaining field events
12.30	45 min	Lunch
13.15	60 min	Relays, team events, tug of war
14.15	30 min	Staff race, results, presentation
14.45	—	Finish

Track finals separate from heats is what distinguishes a secondary sports day from a primary one, and it needs the scorer on top of the heat results before lunch.

College and university — a half day, voluntary, social

Time	Length	What
12.00	30 min	Entries desk open, teams register, warm-up
12.30	60 min	Track events, run as finals only — no heats unless entries demand it
13.30	30 min	Break, refreshments
14.00	60 min	Team events: relay, tug of war, five-a-side, novelty
15.00	30 min	Staff versus students fixture, results, presentation
15.30	—	Finish, social continues

Entries will be lower than you expect and will cluster in the team and social events. Plan for that rather than against it, and keep the programme flexible enough to drop an event with two entries.

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Part 5 · Equipment listSports Day Planning Pack

Count it, bag it per event, label the bags, and count it back in at the end.

Marking out and the course

Line marking paint or line marker
Measuring tape, 30 m or longer
Cones, 40 or more
Lane markers or rope
Start and finish line markers
Flags or tall markers visible from a distance
Signs: first aid, toilets, water, spectators, entrance, exit
Spectator line rope, tape or barriers

Running the events

Whistles, one per marshal plus spares
Stopwatches, one per timed event plus spares
Clipboards, one per marshal plus spares
Pens and pencils — far more than you think, they vanish
Heat sheets, printed, plus spares
Result slips, plus spares
Bulldog clips or elastic bands, for sheets in the wind
Public address or megaphone, tested outdoors
Spare batteries
A hand bell or air horn as the backup

Event equipment

Batons, one per relay team plus spares
Hurdles — low foam or plastic, plus spares
Bean bags, two sets, so one is being collected while the other is thrown
Hoops or targets
Sacks
Eggs and spoons, or equivalent, plus spares
Soft balls
Foam javelins
Jumping mat or marked landing area, plus a rake if you have a pit
Speed bounce mat
Tug of war rope with a centre marker
Parachute
House or team bands, bibs or sashes

People on the field

Seating or mats for participants
Chairs or benches for spectators who need them
Shade — gazebo, marquee, or a planned shaded area
Water: bottles, jugs, cups or a refill point — at more than one location
Bins
Tissues and wet wipes
Spare sun hats
Spare water bottles
Spare kit: shorts, T-shirts, socks, trainers in common sizes
Plastic bags for wet or soiled clothing

Admin and the office

Running order, several copies, one laminated for the event lead
Site plan, printed for every marshal
Marshal packs, one per marshal
Announcer's script
Registers or roll-call sheets adapt to policy
Participant medical information, held as your own policy requires adapt to policy
Scoring sheets and house points tracker
Calculator, or the spreadsheet on a charged laptop or tablet
Certificates, ribbons, stickers or medals
Charged mobile telephone, number known to the office
Visitor signing-in arrangements adapt to policy

First aid and welfare — a prompt, not a specification adapt to your setting's own policy

First-aid provision as your policy requires
First-aid point, signed and visible from the field
Participants' own medication, held as your policy requires
Access route kept clear for an emergency vehicle
Quiet or indoor space available
Sun protection arrangements as your policy requires

Wet weather, kept ready

The indoor plan, printed
Hall or indoor space booked as a reserve
Indoor equipment set aside
The cancellation message, pre-written and ready to send

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Part 6 · Site planGrid square = ______________ metres Date: ______________

Mark all of these on the plan

Track lanes — numbered, start and finish lines identified
Direction of running — an arrow. Nobody sprints towards a wall, fence, hedge, road or car park, and the low sun is not in anyone's eyes
Field event areas — jumping and throwing. A throwing area must be sited so nothing can be thrown towards people, and so the collection path does not cross a running lane adapt to policy
Participant seating by group, and the route from seat to start line
Spectator area, and the line they must not cross — which must not be the finish line
First-aid point — signed, visible from the whole field, not behind the spectators
Water points — more than one
Shade and quiet space
Toilets, and the route from both the participant and spectator areas
Equipment store — central, so marshals are not walking to the far corner
Announcer position — can see the whole field and be heard
Scorer position — fixed, so marshals know where to deliver slips
Emergency vehicle access route, and the gate kept clear and unlocked adapt to policy
Spectator entrance and exit, and the signing-in point adapt to policy
Anything to avoid — uneven ground, drain covers, sprinkler heads, tree roots, low branches, goalposts, gradients, mole hills

Give a copy to every marshal and to the office. A marshal who can see the plan does not need to ask.

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Part 7 · Wet-weather planand Part 8 · After the day

The decision

Write these down before the week of the event, and tell everyone what they are. Publish the decision time in the letter — the most common complaint about a cancelled sports day is not the cancellation, it is being told too late.

Who makes the call?
By what time on the day?
Who makes it if they are absent?
Where will the decision be published?
How will spectators be told?
How will transport, catering and any external provider be told?
Is there a reserve date, and what is it?

The four options

1 — Go ahead in light rain. Usually the right answer. Participants are fine in light rain; spectators are the ones who leave. Decide in advance how wet is too wet, and check the surface for slipperiness before you commit adapt to your setting's own policy. Cut the longer runs first.

2 — Shorten it. Keep the core events, drop the novelty events and longer runs, and run it in half the time. Have this ready in advance — it is the option settings most often wish they had prepared.

Short running order — primary example, 60 minutes
Time	Length	What
0.00	10 min	Out, seated, brief
0.10	20 min	Sprints, all year groups, straight through, no field events
0.30	15 min	Relays, one team per class
0.45	10 min	Totals and presentation
0.55	—	In

3 — Move it indoors. Works, but only if planned: the hall booked as a reserve from week 6 rather than asked for on the morning; an event list that works indoors (speed bounce, standing long jump, target throw into a hoop, bean-bag relay, obstacle course, chair-to-chair relay, dressing-up relay); a decision on spectators, since most halls cannot hold them and saying so in advance beats turning people away at the door; shorter distances and a thought about floor surface and footwear adapt to policy; and a quieter format, because an indoor sports day is extremely loud and that matters for some participants.

Indoor carousel — 6 stations, 8 groups, 50 minutes
Time	Length	What
0.00	5 min	In, seated by group, brief
0.05	5 min	Warm-up
0.10	30 min	Six stations, 5 minutes each, groups rotate on the whistle
0.40	5 min	Team relay, all groups
0.45	5 min	Totals and presentation
0.50	—	Out

4 — Postpone. Use the reserve date. Tell everyone the same day. Check the reserve date against everything the original was checked against, and re-confirm catering, first-aid cover and any external provider.

If you cancel

Send the message by every route you have, immediately
Update the website and the app
Tell the office, so they can answer the telephone
Tell catering
Tell transport
Tell any external provider, and check the cancellation terms
Tell the site team to stand down
Confirm the reserve date in the same message if you can — it halves the follow-up questions
Store the marked-out field information, so you do not have to re-measure

Hot weather — the more common problem in a UK summer term

Sun protection arrangements as your own policy requires adapt to policy
Shade for every participant, not just those not currently competing
Water at more than one point, and reminders to drink before, during and after
Hats, and a few spares
Longer breaks between events, and more of them
Consider moving the whole event earlier in the day
Consider cutting the longer runs entirely
Know what your own policy says about postponing for heat, and who decides adapt to policy

Part 8 — After the day

Record the results and publish them
Thank everyone by name where you can — staff, site team, office, volunteers
Count the equipment back in and list what needs replacing
Write down what overran, what underran, and what you would cut
Note the actual timings against the planned ones — the single most useful thing you can leave for next year
Note the equipment you borrowed and from whom
File this pack with your notes on it and the completed running order

Notes for next year

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Sports DayPlanning Packand Running Order

What is inside

How the phase blocks work

Week 6 — Fix the date and the shape of the day

Week 5 — Events, entries and people

Week 4 — Tell everyone

Week 3 — Make the paperwork

Week 2 — Rehearse

Week 1 — The final week

The day itself

Part 2 — Jobs list by role

Track, laned

Field, stations

Whole-group and inclusive

Worked example — one-site primary, 8 classes of 30, 6 lanes

The timing arithmetic, so you can redo it for your own numbers

Blank running order grid

The shape of the day, by phase

Early years — 45 to 60 minutes of activity in total

Secondary — a full day for a year group, or a carousel

College and university — a half day, voluntary, social

Marking out and the course

Running the events

Event equipment

People on the field

Admin and the office

First aid and welfare — a prompt, not a specification adapt to your setting's own policy

Wet weather, kept ready

The decision

The four options

If you cancel

Hot weather — the more common problem in a UK summer term

Part 8 — After the day

Notes for next year

Sports Day
Planning Pack
and Running Order