... to think 15 mins for lunch is insane! The French wouldn't stand for it!

[PhylisStein]

My DCs (9,9 and 6) have been coming home this term with their lunch not fully eaten. Most unusual for them. Today I complained to school and discovered that they have 15 minutes to get their lunch boxes, EAT and put lunchboxes away!

AIBU or is this INSANE?
Surely 1/2 hour for lunch and 1/2 and hour for play is normal isn't it? The teachers are making them bolt their food in silence and go out after 15mins even if they haven't finished!

This can't be healthy for their social life or their digestion can it?

What's normal at your school?

Most of our 1st sitting are out within 15/20 minutes. It's only the stragglers who are left sitting when the 2nd sitting swoop in. If each sitting took half an hour, who'd clear/clean/sweep/wash-up etc at the end of the lunch hour? Staff are only usually paid for an hour. Most of our infants bolt their packed lunches down in about 5 minutes flat!

Some days my youngest only gets 15 mins as things have happened in the hall where lunch takes place or class have been held back etc etc if it was a daily occurrence I would complain

This isn't 'forced' bolting by the way. We don't rush the children,

15 minutes is loony :( Way to give them indigestion.

Schools round here have 30 mins to eat and 30 mins to play. I would speak to the school.

That's awful. My DD is at senior school and they get 40 minutes for lunch which I thought was a bit of a shame as when they have queued up in the canteen there isn't really time to eat more than a quick sandwich. But 15 minutes for such young shildren is insane. i would very definitely be kicking up a stink about that.

YANBU. I think a couple of local schools have 20 min breaks.

I wouldn't eat in 20 mins so I wouldn't expect a teenager to.

I'm all up for nice long, civilised continental lunch breaks.

I would be decidedly pissed off if DS's school only gave him 15 minutes to eat. He takes a month of Sundays to eat which is admittedly quite annoying and I have cut his portion sizes down correspondingly.

He does lunch club 3 days a week at school and they give them a full hour, although they gently encourage them to get a move on so they have some playtime. DS spends so much time chattering that he forgets to eat. A common problem I believe.

Like rookie said, it's about 15 mins at our school too because of the lack of seating space. They have to have 4 "sittings" - Reception, Y1 & Y2, Y3 & Y4 and lastly Y5 & Y6. They have an hour for lunch altogether - so 15 mins per "sitting". DS2 has given up having sandwiches because his age group (Y6) are expected to go out and play for 45 mins then come back for their "sitting". If they have school dinners then they can go straight in at the start of lunch break & play afterwards (his school has a very low uptake of school dinners for some reason).

The school I work at has 2 x 20 min breaks. It's secondary though and all food is available at both breaks and can be pre-ordered so most children seem to cope with it.
At primary school though it's harsh if they're being made to eat it so quickly.

The comment made by echt is interesting "Very short lunch "hours" are often a sign of poor behaviour being headed off by the pupils having less down time." Apparantly one of the reasons we have short breaks is to stop the bad behaviour by not giving them time to get fully wound up!

We have the full hour here at my school on Australia, but no dining hall, a queue-up canteen instead. All food is eaten outside in the open air, where there are some tables and benches under sails for the sun, but most pupils just sit on the ground and eat, even in quite cold weather.

Don't know what to do for the best - I may withdraw my children for their lunch break and take them home!

Debi - just 2 20 minute breaks? What time does school end?
I'm interested in this as we're looking to revise our school day. We also have short breaks to avoid poor behaviour/bullying but it teaches the children nothing about social skills or enjoying their food.

A huge number of our children eat nothing at all throughout the school day anyway but that's another thread.

Hour? our primaries have 40 mins for their 'lunch hour' ...... any longer and behaviour declines in the afternoon.

Sorry but why does it take 15 mins to eat a sandwich and an apple?

It doesn't surprise me. I used to work at lunchtimes in my DC's primary school and used to work mainly in Y1 or reception. i was always being put under pressure to hurry them up with their food. I don't think it is fair to rush them too much when they are little and lunchtime is a social thing too.

There were some that were really slow but I didn't like to hurry them too much plus if it was Winter I was quite happy to stay in a bit longer.

It sounds mean but there were other staff on playground duty

stressheaderic our day is 8.30-2.30 with registration and 6 periods of 50 mins. It takes a bit of getting used to and some staff don't like it but I like it as one day a week I can pick up ds1 from school and the other 2 days I work I can get work done after school and still get away at a decent time. Means meetings don't go on past about 4pm either.
It's also good for after school clubs, revsion classes etc.

Ours have an hour and 10 minutes, once they are finished the an go out to play, so they can have up to about 50 mins eating so that there is time to cear everything away.

I can't believe 15 minutes, makes me feel sad for them trying to eat up in that time. Is there a reception class too? At 4 yo surely they can't be expected to eat in that time?