secondary school with no locker facilities

DS jas just gone up to secondary with no lockers. No one wears a coat as you cant have them in the building so have to put them in your bag ot leave them at 'student services' and remeber to get them at the end of the day. They dont seem to have text books or exercise books like we used to ot if they do they stay in school. The only time his bag is full is when be tales PE kit but thats because of his massive size 10 trainers!

It's not that uncommon. Many schools are spread over different blocks and levels so having your locker down one end of the building when your lessons are dotted all over the place is not that helpful.

I suppose you learn to pack economically. A lightweight coat and a good sized rucksack will help.

I'm guessing it's a well laid out school. At my school there were lockers in the most obscure parts of the buildings and it was random allocation so no guarantee of getting one near your form room for example.

We have bag racks instead of lockers (it is extremely rare that anything gets stolen (once or twice a year max)).

It works fine here. They soon get used to it. The lockers are all near communal spaces where they would tend to go for morning/break/lunch/after school anyway though we do get moans about the odd day where there is particularly lots of walking (and DD's tutor room this year is about as far away from anywhere as you can get).

DD has a folder with 6 compartments and keeps most of her books at home, so she organises her books in the morning by lesson and just takes out the ones she needs as she goes through the day. DS keeps most of his books in a jumble in his locker and still seems to cope (actually he quite often has nothing at all in his bag apart from his lunch).

Does it work well? Are students able to be on time even if their locker is a long walk from some of their classrooms? Do some of the newer students struggle to be organised and remember the right books?

I think an alternative to dragging your own bodyweight in books is good I'm just curious how it works.

I cant imagine my classes coming in with all their stuff for the whole day and a pe kit and a coat. Wouldn't feel right at all!

Ours had lockers in their form room or nearby. Theyd just pick up next lot of stuff at lunch or break. So only needing 2 lessons (if hour long) at most at a time and some subjects keep text books .

Same no bags rule here as well (the school was built with a much smaller number of students in mind and there is no room in the corridors!). It works ok. They put planners and pencil cases and blazer pockets and carry the books for 2 lessons at a time (and of course the teacher might have the books) returning to lockers at break and lunch to swap books. I imagine it makes classrooms a much less crowded place as well (having read how much some DC carry round on here!)

So do they give all the students time between each lesson to walk to their locker to put away and pick up the books they need?

No bags and coats works much nicer - bags and coats in lockers/cloakrooms so you only need the stuff for a couple of classes at a time. Corridors and classrooms much nicer environment not full of bags and coats!

Not allowed to carry bags? How on earth does that work?

they have lockers in my DD's secondary school as they are not allowed to carry bags or coats inside the building.

DD has a locker, it houses the PE kit and arts kit.

In my opinion she could also bring the things on the days required. It would actually give me a chance to wash it.

Books stay at home apart from the ones she needs for that day. Her violin does not fit in it anyway.

Coat, not sure I would want her to stuff a wet coat into a locker with other things in it.

We had lockers when I was at school. I had mixed feelings about them. I did like being able to dump some stuff in mine, but really the only time we had to go to them was before school started and at the end of the day, which wasn't much use for those who had to get a bus. They were off limits at lunchtime.

DD1 had one at her secondary school, but I don't think she used it much due to the time factor. The school DD2 and DD3 went to didn't have them. They managed. There would have been little time to use them there too. Apparently they had had them years before but had had them taken out as they were a nightmare to police, maintain and keep clean (rubbish piled up down the back etc.

Dd has a locker. For free just need to provide the padlock. I saw it last school event, was super efficency tidy with space for books in a magazine file. Hanger on hook for her blazer etc. PE kit in bag.

Her bedroom on the other hand

She doesnt do music or wear a coat (has umbrella and pac a mac) and puts ingredients in food tech room. Still wouldn't want her carrying too much and risk damaging her back.

We have lockers but both DC don't use them. No text books. They have online access for home use and the actual books are kept in school. They do not wear coats even when it is snowing

Also, coat hooks are considered a fire hazard.

DS in school and has HF ASD...
He manages fine without a locker!!!

New schools aren't built with space for lockers. I've been involved in a new-build project and space limitations are tight. Senior leadership team aren't bothered though - they've worked in schools with lockers - they say there are never enough, they're never in the right place, and they're never big enough. Plus they get smelly and are a nightmare to maintain.

Ooh gosh I wouldnt want to teach in a room with 30 wet coats!! Im glad ours werent allowed to take then around with them!

Coats on the back of chairs was a big no no for some reason

I wouldnt want to shove a wet coat in a locker, it wouldnt dry and would smell. Better to just hang it on the back of a chair. The lockers are also rarely large enough to fit an instrument that would be too heavy to lug around anyway. The lockers we had could barely fit a folded up clarinet.

DC's secondary charge £40 for lockers and £10 if a key is lost.

Totally normal. In a big school, lockers can be a complete pain - you simply don't have time to get there and back when you need to. DS's school only offer them in Yr7 but he never bothered. DD does keep her PE kit in hers but could easily not.

And I'm assuming those aghast at kids carrying wet coats don't have teenagers ;-) They don't do coats! Instruments can normally be left in the tutor room or music room, and they just carry everything else around in a rucksack.