Why do schools finish at 3?

[snowdropsandcrocuses]

Genuine question but before teachers come gunning for me, let me explain.

In particular I am referring to secondary schools here and have just been reading the thread on teachers having ridiculously short lunch breaks which got me thinking.

Why is there such a rush to finish school early? Finishing school at 4pm for example, would allow longer lunch breaks (giving teachers and pupils a full break plus allowing lunch clubs more time), could factor in a little more transition time and just take a bit of pressure off. It would definitely help parents as well. I'm struggling to see the negatives. This is not to say I want teachers to work even harder because I don't but I wonder if there is a particular mandate that dictates the maximum 'opening hours' of comprehensive schools?

Interesting. I'd imagine that a bit of time between lessons would be appreciated by staff. My teacher friends tell me they struggle to even go to the loo during the school day.

I suppose the knock on issue is the meetings. Staff usually meet AM and PM, in various capacities, before and after the school day, plus any additional calls to parents etc. So that all gets pushed back.

You don't want to give children more time at lunch time.

It's just more opportunity for them to go rogue.

Secondary schools see long lunch breaks as potential times for misbehaviour, eg. Fights, leaving the premises, littering.

We finish at 4 (independent school). We have an hour and 20 for lunch which allows for us to actually eat as well as run clubs/do a supervisory duty/run detention etc

Yes we used to get an hour 20.

In longer breaks youngsters go off site and mischief can ensue….

That’s how it was at my last but one school so the school day timings were changed and (most of) the trouble stopped.

Our local school finishes at 2.50. (But starts 8.30). They have after school clubs until 4... but the village buses all leave at 3.

It does feel ridiculously early.

So teachers can plan lessons and mark ready for the next day? And meetings, training etc.

Most secondary schools go till 3.30 ish in Worcestershire

Secondary schools in my area used to finish at 4pm. They do start earlier now than they used to. I think teens would be happier reverting to a start at 8.45 or 9 and finishing at 4pm instead of 3 or 3.15.

I don’t know of any secondary schools that finish at 3pm. Our primaries are 3.15. We also have to factor in extremely dark evenings in the North of Scotland, it’s pitch black by 4pm in the winter

We have a 30 min lunch break. Shortened from 40 mins due to poor behaviour from students. Sometimes bell goes early making a 20 min lunch if behaviour is particularly wild. I have perfected the art of wolfing down lunch with one hand and replying to emails with the other.

When i was at primary school (with the dinosaurs etc), we finished at 4pm. I remember it being so dark all of the time in winter (Glasgow).

We had an hour for lunch and all went home.

I am a teacher now but don't know why it was changed to 3!

@letsghostdance

You don't want to give children more time at lunch time.

It's just more opportunity for them to go rogue.

Private schools tend to have longer lunch breaks. Gives them time to actually eat, then spend some time socialising/doing lunchtime clubs etc. Surely having a decent break helps them to focus better in lessons? Kids need to let off a bit of steam. My step sister is 16 and she has time to queue for food, wolf it down then go back to lessons. It’s not good for anyone.

Ours finish at 4. Primary at 3.30.

An hour lunch break would be such hard work. They are wild even in primary- not used to playing outdoors like back in the day.

Because teachers would still have the same amount of work to do after the children had left, so would finish their work even later.

Tbh I’d favour knocking some time off morning registration or even scrapping it altogether and having a longer lunch.

We have registration for twenty five minutes in the morning and now assemblies appear to have been swallowed by covid it’s a bit crap really.

Our primary still has an hour lunch. They’re not wild at all.

Teachers at my school are in work from 8am until 4pm at the minimum, plus marking at home and/or staff meetings. They get half an hour for lunch. That’s 37.5 hours per week minimum. School finishing at 4 would mean a 42.5 hour week.

Support staff are paid an hourly rate so the extra cost in salary would really hit the school budget as well.

Not enough money to keep the lights or heating on for longer. Our heating goes off at 12, lights are all motion sensored.

You’d also have to find money to pay staff to supervise the longer lunch break. Plus the kids would have more opportunity to create havoc the longer they have free after eating.

I’m a teacher in secondary. It takes around half hour to plan a lesson (photocopy / plan resources etc) and if you have work to mark you are looking at 10 - 15 mins per pupil depending on the work they have done . Add that up if you have 5 lessons in a day and you will see why we need time at the start and end of the day.

Most teachers take work home in the evening and weekends to stay onto of it .

My kids schools finish at 3:50 and 4pm. One goes on longer for clubs (to 5:30 at the latest) and the other can add up to an extra hour for detentions/clubs. They also both start early (8:15 & 8:30). One state one private vocational

Bloody hell, it’s no wonder kids play up if they’re constantly being told they’re ‘wild’ and ‘cause havoc’ and can’t be trusted to have a decent lunch break.

I love that my teaching day finishes at 3. It means I can get some work done before picking kids up. It means I can offer revision sessions (giving up my time) until 4 and still get my own kids. A long lunch would just be more time semi supervising kids and not getting stuff done.