PARENTS have spoken of their disappointment after being denied the opportunity to watch their children take part in a primary school's sports day.

Several have taken to social media to complain about the decision at Shaw Primary on Avon Green, Ockendon, where headteacher has informed parents they can instead see their children take part in a dance festival.

Complaints have also been made to the school, but head Dawn Copping believes the school is doing its best to meet the varied needs of all children and parents.

However, that does not appear to have assuaged the disappointment of parents, carers and children who say they look forward to the sports event – all-the-more-so this year as it comes after two years of disruption because of the covid pandemic.

One parent says: "These kids have missed out on so much over the past two years and now they're still missing out! It's not fair at all" while another added: "I don't understand why we can go to a dance festival and not go to sports day to cheer our children on? My son is so upset I'm missing it."

The school has not responded to a request to comment by Thurrock Nub news but in a message to one parent, which has been shared with us, Miss Copping explains the reasoning behind the decision.

She says: "The annual sports day, that parents usually attend, is an opportunity to share some of the children's learning and skills in PE.

"The PE curriculum also includes dance and it simply a case of choosing to share that element of learning this year instead of racing and team games.

"Last year we kept our dance festival in-house and this year we have decided to ask parents to join us, so the only difference is that we are inviting you to a different kind of PE event.

"We would love to invite parents to all the lovely things we do but that simply wouldn't be logistically possible for us or for many of our working parents.

"Children are disappointed when their parents can't attend things at school, so we keep them to a minimum to avoid disappointment for children whose parents can't take lots of time off work."