In RAF SEP, low wing aircraft we used to teach students to put the roundel on the outer wing over the runway in use. The idea was that it kept you close enough so in the unlikely event of the engine failing, you would have a chance of making the airfield, if necessary. We also flew "oval" circuits, not the much larger, "civvie" rectangular ones. Anyone going outside of the normal pattern, such as when committing the heinous crime of extending too far downwind might be directed by the duty instructor to go around onto the deadside and rejoin the circuit.
These days it's all too common to see aircraft supposedly in the circuit of minor airfields leaving the protection of the ATZ on the downwind leg - obviously many of these pilots aren't looking outwards, only in towards the field; not at all sensible.