Or is 30 minutes too short for school lunch?

The queues were massive when I was at school. But... that was 1500 children trying to have lunch at one time, from one place.

Now, DDs have 2 year groups (400) with 3 outlets, with one year group joining the queue straight away, the other joining 10 minutes in and its apparently very efficient. Not needing cash apparently helps a lot!

So its how well a school manages the queues really.

I think it’s fine if all they’ve got to do is eat and chat/play football etc. But it doesn’t sound long enough once you factor in queueing at the canteen. Some kids must get their food very near the end of the break.

Oh yeah. I remember at that age the queues being massive. Then to even leave the classroom on time was hard, walk to the lunch hall. Then I have to go to the toilet as well as I will be trapped for another 2 hours after that.

Yes I agree… 35 mins may be just enough time to queue, eat and pee but there’s no real time to chill/socialise/decompress before going back into lessons.

Where I teach, the children get 40 minutes and I think it’s too short. The little ones need a proper play. Though, the day does finish at 3!

When I was at school we got 80 minutes. At primary 30 minutes were spent eating and 50 playing. At secondary we had clubs and music lessons to occupy. School did go until 4pm though!

At my school, sports clubs were after school, but other clubs (like music ensembles, art, chess, computer club etc) were during lunch, and I found half an hour was plenty for the groups I was in. It’s not just clubs though, unstructured chill-out time is REALLY important.

I don’t think an hour is long enough to eat and attend a club. At my DD’s school they get an hour and 15 mins. If they are at longer club they pre order a lunch and can pick it up early with no queue, leaving time to go to the club. For a shorter club they eat first (they can get an early lunch pass if needed). Sports clubs tend to be after school as they are 1-2 hours. Lunchtime clubs are things like Science club, debating, drama, crafts, chess etc so they’re not as long.

When I was at school we had 1 hour for lunch. I did a couple of extra curricular activities, which took place in the second half hour of lunch, and I remember that on days when I had a club I had to eat pretty quickly to finish my lunch within in the first half hour. Simply walking to the dinner hall, queuing up and then eating your lunch could easily take a full 30 minutes if you were in a classroom at the opposite end of the school and then ended up at the back of the queue. I think children need a bit of time to wind down and socialise, and not JUST eat at lunchtime. When I was at school, after eating, some people played football, some went to the library and sat reading, some played on the computers, and most just sat around chatting, but it’s all important. Perhaps a whole hour isn’t necessary, but I think at least 45 minutes.

You can't compare schools to workplaces. The numbers of kids. Ques for food. Ques for toilets (often locked outside break times). Limited time to go elsewhere for food.
Then consider and lunch clubs thats schools might run.

There is a huge increase in numbers of kids being diagnosed with anxiety, and depression.

Its easy to blame phones and social media, but what else has changed?
Removing freedoms, reducing social times, dictating kids must wear blazers regardless of personal comforts too hot, too cold, reducing kids freedom to choose the local shops rather than the school canteen?

Staggering lunch to avoid massive crowds and get everyone through in time, and minimising unsupervised time and therefore potential for behavioural incidences is the reason. I think it's a great shame as it doesn't allow students to relax, socialise and recharge. My school had 1hr20 which was enough time to eat, attend a special interest club or hang out with your friends. I loved lunchtimes; great memories.

I find it interesting that people are saying that an hour is long enough to buy lunch and attend a club... but somehow 35 minutes isn't long enough to eat. How long are the clubs?

(They are all after school at DDs school... lasting up to 2hrs. Sports especially need an hour minimum!)

It’s not the workplace and kids aren’t adults.

It’s standard in the workplace so I see nothing wrong with it

My Y7 DC has an hour. They have cooked lunch and usually go out and play rugby/hockey/football afterwards
independent school

I think it's too short. I can't see how children would have the time to queue, eat and go to the toilet. My middle DC left secondary school two years ago and they had just cut lunch from an hour to 45 minutes. They weren't allowed to leave the grounds though.
We used to get an hour (also not allowed off the grounds) and I don't remember any fights or anything. Obviously it was a long time ago though.

My child's school gave them 1 hour, split into 2 halves. 30 mins in canteen and 30 mins free time in playground etc. That way all the kids get food and they all get to run around or do as they please. They also get a 30 min break

Pupils in schools here have Friday pm off - secondary finishes at 12, primary at 1230. It has led to some tinkering with the timetables (secondary starts at 0840 and has a 30 minutes lunch break). It's been that way for more than 30 years, so I think that means it works.

The reason originally was to give staff decent non-contact time for development and training, so that some of it can be compulsory and not done in spare time.

We had over an hour at a normal state secondary school. 30mins is way too short.

IMO it's long enough. I left school a long time ago but went to 3 different secondary schools. They all had 35/40 minute lunch breaks and we had plenty of time to socialise.

My daughters school is 30 mins lunch break. Each year has a different time so there is less chance of poor behaviour and bullying. It works really well and my daughter enjoys not waiting ages in a queue for food and it being less busy. She is autistic though so I do appreciate that she's less likely to enjoy so much time socialising, where as it's quite important to other pre teens/teens.

Could short lunch breaks be part of the reason a huge percentage of children struggle to cope in school and are getting diagnosed with ASD and ADHD?

I'm not saying the kids don't have the conditions but something must have changed between the 90s and now for such a huge percentage of kids to have special educational needs 40% was a figure I heard on the radio last week

Our local secondary has a 30 minute lunch break. Talking to the kids at open day they said the queues for lunch are massive with 1800 kids all queuing at the same time, and they spend their break queuing and then having a quick walk round the block before back to class. In theory there are clubs but as they only run for about 10 minutes then it is a bit of a joke.

I found it very sad actually. It doesn’t feel like a way to build friendships or to allow any enrichment. And then presumably many kids are more disruptive in the afternoon as they haven’t had a proper break, just stood in a queue, wolfed some food, toilet and back to class again. I understand why schools do it but I think it is really sad that we have built a society and education system where children have to be treated like prisoners.

My ADHD son made the choice not to bother eating at lunchtime due to short lunch breaks. There was no way he was queuing up to get hot food as that meant missing being outside with mates and burning off energy. If he wasn’t in detention that is. He’d grab a fruit pot or hash browns at break and that’d be that. Not good for the afternoon sessions.
The view of the school was giving them too much free time resulted in increased behaviour incidents or incidents of bullying. Keep it short. Keep them in lessons. Keep them contained. Keep them compliant.

Our secondary school has two 35 minute lunch breaks. The kids seem to sometimes eat during break 1 and sometimes during break 2. The first is roughly 11:30-12:00 and 2nd is 1:30-2. I think it’s plenty of time for teenagers who are only in school 8:45 to 3. Different for 5 year olds, of course.

Behaviour policies don't eliminate bad behaviour, they just apply sanctions when it happens. Hopefully they reduce it to an extent. In any case, behaviour policies rely on staff being present to witness the behaviour and apply the consequences, but at lunch time it's impossible to supervise all students all the time.