Year 7 & 8 children in break time?!!! Is PLAYING a thing of the past?

Thank you talkinpeace :) me too, things seem to have sorted themselves out this year and she's in with a nice crowd. No more tears and upset thank goodness :)

Flad your DD is doing ok fairylea

My dd is in year 8 and they all stand about chatting at lunch.

Mobile phones are banned at school and anyone caught with one is in big trouble. It's a very rural school with 1500 pupils and if they absolutely must have a mobile phone for a particular day (for home time issues) then they have to give it in to the office at the start of the day and collect it at the end. Seems to work really well. None of the kids seem to disobey the rule, they all live in fear of having their phones taken away!

I am teaching in an all girls comp at the moment and the younger girls are definitely out playing at lunchtime.

The private school I previously taught in had girls up to year 10 playing outside. You had to drag them in for afternoon registration.

Ds yr 7 often goes to the library as he doesn't like football. He either reads or goes on the computers. There are also quite a few clubs at lunch which many of them take part in and phones are banned in school hours.

Millymolly
What on earth happened before mobile phones? An adult would contact the parent on behalf of the child.
But 30 years ago there were far fewer households with both parents out at work
and before parental choice kids went to their local school
and kids and parents spent a LOT of time hanging around

No-one NEEDS a phone in school. They can be stored in lockers and collected at the end of the day. Lots of schools insist on this, large, small, rural or not. What on earth happened before mobile phones? An adult would contact the parent on behalf of the child.

My DDs senior school had an outside activity area for the Y7 girls but many did clubs and sport at lunchtimes. We did not play in Y7 when I was at school and that was nearly 50 years ago. We chatted, queued up for tuck, and did a bit of quick revision for tests. Lunchtime was mostly taken up with eating and chatting. We were thrown out of the buildings but we went on long walks in the grounds or sat around in groups. No clubs that I can remember although I organised 'record club' in the music room so we could listen to Motown, the Beatles etc. As it was a grammar school, lunch breaks were surprisingly dull. We (only the girls) also washed up the teachers' coffee cups on a rota which involved entering the smoke infused staff room! How times have changed - for the better.

As there is so much more sport at secondary school, children don't necessarily run around at break or lunchtime but a few may choose too.

Banning phones in schools is utterly non feasible in many areas - DCs school has a huge catchment and 1500 kids - they NEED the phones for emergencies

but when I was at secondary we used to hang around and chat and bitch

little has changed

I started secondary nearly 30 years ago. Definitely did not 'play' at secondary. I recognised it to be a watershed moment when that would stop. DD has used her secondary breaks to consolidate a new friendship group - they seem to have a lot of fun though doing the sort of things we also did 30 years ago, but backed up by what's app. So stupid in-jokes, talking about boys, teachers, etc.

Meant to add he often plays kick a bout too, and tag. Mobile phones are not allowed during the school day.

There are table tennis tables and DS, yr 8, often plays at break and lunch. They only get 50 mins for lunch, the queue for the canteen is long, by the time he's eaten there is little time to play, he complains about this frequently. He does do a few clubs, but mainly in the summer as he likes summer sports so he is busy with clubs in summer term, and practice for them starts in spring term. He often doesn't eat lunch if he goes to a lunch time club and comes home starving.

DS yr7 plays football if they are allowed on the field - it's not permitted on limited playground space. Otherwise they're on their phones playing the latest game. Clubs are not cool.

In my daughters class, they do everything. Many girls play around and do social media, taking selfies etc. and loads of girls go to clubs, there are a group of children at the library doing homework. My daughter chats with her friends and makes sure she has the right things for her next lessons.

At the school I work in the 11-13yr olds seem to spend their time beating each other up and the period after break is spent taping them back together again.

It's a school with ishoos.

My ds is 13, he plays football or some kind of hide and seek or goes to a (sports or music) club. If I found out he was on his phone (he has no mobile data) I would take it away from him.

Some of his classmates are on their phones during the whole of break, that is very depressing!

DS at grammar school, mobile phones are a No-no. Very little play involving just kicking a ball for a few minutes. Many lunchtime clubs on offer such as: Debating, Comedy/Drama, Guitar, Drums, Chess, Art, DT, tennis, table tennis, etc. My DS does swimming and photography. He also likes meeting outside with friends-chatting over a hot chocolate drink. If bad weather he goes in the library and does some of his homework or "runs for his life" to get a sit in the ICT suite.
In the summer more things to do than in the winter.

Asked my 13 and 14 year olds if anyone plays at school,they both said its not primary school nobody plays.

I'm a secondary teacher and ive never seen children playing anything other than football or basketball. There is a lot of hanging around gossiping, never seen an imaginative game on the go in 7 years

Have girls ever played in secondary school? I know i wasn't allowed to in the 80's, got the piss royally taken the one time my friend and i tried.

One of the reasons we choose our boys school is that the DC still have long breaks and the play .Helped by the fantastic grounds definitely but never mind year 7 and 8 the sixth formers are often out playing footie with jackets as goalposts and it's not unusual to see even year 10s playing tag etc . Big contrast with my older ds school where right from year 7 playing was uncool and they all just hung around in groups

DS 1 started this sept, apparently they hang out at the bistro

he wanted to take his baseball bat, mitt and ball the other day, already in his bag.....
i had to gentle explain that this was likely to end up with a weeks detention...clueless

DD's school forces them to go outside for lunch and break during the summer / spring unless it's raining. Winter / autumn they are mostly inside as it's too cold and often the tables etc are covered in frost.

DD doesn't go to any clubs, she use to do debating in year 7&8 but now she just chills with her friends, checks social media. DD says in the summer they are rarely on their phones but just chat or make daisy chains.

We used to play ball games I. Groups against the wall like Kingdm or wink murder or wander round talking and exploring. Da played football and rugby or wandered round chatting outside .

When I was a lass the boys played football (heads and volleys) and the girl watched. Except when it rained. Then, the boys played poker and the girls watched. The girls would sometimes walk round the school but only to have a look at the boys who were playing football elsewhere. I don't remember any lunch time clubs so at least they're an option now!