No lockers and no lunch rooms - is this the norm?

I think a lot of teachers do open classrooms at lunch for kids to eat in. If a child spills a drink in my room they go and get a cloth and clean it up. It is not a replacement for a dining hall though. I would not want 30 kids eating lunch in my room.

OP, it's not as simple as opening a few classrooms. Even the nicest, most well-intentioned kids sometimes spill drinks, knock pots of yogurt open, lob half eaten sandwiches at the bin and miss, and so on. If a classroom was going to used as a lunch room for those who bring their own food, it would need to be cleaned both before and after lunch time. Most schools don't have the resources for that. If a room is being taught in both before and after lunch, there simply isn't time to make it hygienic for eating and then clean up afterwards.

I agree with backforgood

I didn't like dd2 not having a secure locker when she first started but it never became a problem for her. She's yr12 so a bit late for me to moan now! Dd3 is yr9 and says the only problem with sitting on the floor at lunchtime is that people trip over you or you trip over them! But she doesn't seem bothered so it's ok with me.

Right. A quick poll at home.
Dd2's comp has packed lunchers and diners sitting in the dining area - always somewhere to sit. Lockers never used as just get broken into so all bags carried in school. No cloakrooms.
Dd3's comp has a dining room that is bursting and lots of packed lunchers sit on the floor in groups to eat their lunch. Lockers are secure and are in the cloakroom but not used all the time due to time constraints between lessons.
Both schools outstanding with approx. 1000 students.

Dining rooms can be used for much more than simply eating in. We use ous for staff meetings, staff social events, school social events, meetings with parents, special school events, mentoring sessions, numeracy and literacy sessions. It is also hired out to the public which brings us in revenue.

Look,pickledsiblings - I don't think many people would disagree with you that the things you are worrying about aren't ideal, but the fact of the matter is, education budgets (like all public spending) are finite. If (and we all know it's never going to happen), but if each of my dcs schools were given a few hundred thousand extra - enough to build a dining room big enough to sit all the pupils - I could write a list of dozens and dozens and dozens of things that would be more valuable to the pupils than a large room that's only used for an hour a day.
Personally I'd start with properly financed support for those who find it difficult to access education. Others might choose to reduce class sizes or provide decent sporting facilities, but I think, however many people you asked, not many would think it good use of money to be providing large dining rooms for schools up and down the country.

I take my walkie talkie everywhere at school. Usually forget to switch it off while teaching until a voice breaks through the quiet in the classroom!

Have never been in a school with lockers - from 1500 kids in first job to 500 in this one.

I must ask my own dds what arrangements there are at their schools!

Just a thought - were the year 11 girls having you on do you think? Any school that really doesn't have anywhere for students to eat apart from in the toilets would have been noted by parents or H & S by now surely?

In most workplaces people do not sit on the floor to eat their dinner.

I would have thought that most schools would have a warning bell at the end of a break and in this time pupils woud go their lockers before a second bell goes to signify the start of a lesson. So if they had two lessons in the morning they woud get two lessons worth of books or equipment . At the end of break they would swap the stuff from lesson one and two for the thing they need for the lesson(s) before lunch. After lunch a warning bell would go and pupils go to their lockers again and get what they need for the afternoon before lessons go for tutor time or afternoon lessons.

Oh, I agree with EvilTwins about the walkie talkies - sensible form of communication, and nothing 'prison like' about it. I really think you would be seen as very very precious if you wrote about that especially as you don't even have children there

I think when you have little children, things that happen in secondaries can seem quite scary. It is hard when your pfb goes up to secondary to start with, as it's so different from primary. However what you find (as your dc become secondary pupils) things that seem uncomfortable or 'odd' to you now, just become normal, and genuinely don't bother the pupils at all.

I have a ds in Yr 11 and a dd in Yr 8, and have looked round 8 secondary schools near here whilst they were in Primary (also have nieces and children of friends in other schools in the City).

No secondary school I have knowledge of has a cloakroom.

A minority have lockers. As it happens, both my dcs schools do have lockers, but, is ds's in particular, it's not in a place that it's very convenient to dip in and out of between lessons, so tends to be used to house muddy smelly PE kit only. Nor is there time inbetween lessons to go back to the lockers to sort books for the next lessons.

Re lunch - I'm not 100% sure in ds's school, but in dd's school, the dining area is quite small and reserved for girls' eating a meal bought there. They have lots of outside space, but are also allowed to eat in the hall if it is too cold/wet outside (no tables set out though - they can fetch themselves a chari or sit on the floor). Again, I think this is pretty normal. It's like most workplaces really - there is usually a staffroom of some sort, but a lot of people choose not to eat there.

Yes it did , the school was becoming a war zone and if course it took more than sorting out food arrangements but that was part of it. We got rid of all machines selling fizzy drinks, all machines selling chocolates and sweets and stopped feeding kids sausage rolls from a hatch every day for their lunch which they wandered around eating. We also lengthened the lunch hour from 35 minutes to an hour so everyone had a chance to relax at lunch.

Ours has no lockers and uses walkie talkies because it consists of 14 different buildings - there would be way to much toing and froing for lockers and walkie talkies are a practical way to call for first aid from one building, or outside it, to another. Packed lunches are generally eaten outside at picnic tables under shelters - or if very cold, in classrooms.

I have worked in a school with no dining room and it was an issue and I was really pleased when staff and parents rallied together to do something about it . Because the students could not sit down and eat a proper meal they bolted down rubbish often with fizzy drinks from machines which we also got rid of. They were often wild by the afternoon and this impacted on achievement and the fact that the school became an unpleasant place to learn or work. It sends a message about how the school feels about it's students and staff.

I can see that if a school is very spread out that Walkie talkies might be needed if you were on duty outside. That is different from patrolling corridors with a Walkie talkie.

OP, I genuinely think that the school will have other more pressing things to worry about. If none of the students or parents of children at the school are making a fuss, then why on earth are you? What you see as an issue may not be seen as an issue by others.

I am finding the whole walkie talkie argument rather . My school is small but quite spread out. We use the walkie talkies to communicate with reception. If a student injured themselves, say, I can call for a first aider ASAP without having to go and find a room with a phone then hope that the line isn't busy. Also, we have a callout system during the day in case teachers need assistance or for a child to be taken out. The person on callout duty has a walkie talkie so that they can be contacted and directed to wherever they need to be. Sensible, not prison-like.