How long is reasonable for lunch break at secondary school

[Ipackedmysandwichesforlunch]

DS school is going to cut it's lunch break further so the kids get just 35 mins. It seems very short and not much time to eat, socialise, have a break etc. Is this common in other schools?

Yy to bad behaviour

But it also helps with teacher recruitment and retaining. Put it this way, if you could work at a school where you got off in time to pick up kids from primary/go the gym and lesson plan at home in the evening or work at a school where you don't have time for those things and still have to lesson plan in the evening which would you choose?

It's an cheap way of trying to attract and retain teachers

Personally I think it's too short, but there's nothing anyone can do about it.

My 2 kids have this. Neither of them eat lunch and nor do a lot of their friends.

It seems very common at all the secondary schools in my area, I noticed it when I was looking round for Y7. Some of them have 45 mins but lots 30 or 35. My DC's school has 35, they stagger the lunch breaks so it's 2 years at a time which helps with crowding. But it still doesn't give much time to do anything.

I assumed it was partly a cost saving measure as you don't need as much midday cover if the break is shorter and/or staggered so there's fewer kids around to supervise.

Ours is about that. When they changed it from an hour, it basically ended all lunchtime clubs as there wasn't time for anything meaningful. They were warned that would happen in consultation. I would ask about clubs if I were you. They should be consulting parents if it changes the length of the school day.

The schools should be running the clubs after school then. Why should the children who aren't doing a club be kept to waste their time to enable the amusement of some of their peers? If they can all go home, but some choose to stay for a club, that's much fairer than everyone hanging around for an hour lunch break.

(Or your DS and his pals can eat in the shorter break).

DDs is 40 minutes. It's ok if they can get food quickly but with long queues they barely have time to eat.

one period i.e. 45 min + 5min
lunch is staggered around classes. they have lunch anytime from 1130-1330 depending on their daily schedule.

Clubs run after school - which is preferable anyway (how much sports training can you fit into a lunch break by the time you've also factored in changing and allowing time to have lunch?). Socialising also happens after school.

Personally I think better to run these separate from the school day so children who don't want to take part (or go to clubs out of school) are able to.

In what way are children who don’t do clubs ‘wasting their time’? They are socialising at lunch break just like everyone else. The problem with after school clubs and sports is they are completely reliant on parents being able to pick up as there are no late school buses (rural area).

No, it's not about "keeping them in school for as little time as possible".
It's about cutting down on lunchtimes because that's when most of the bad behaviour and bullying happens and that is well documented.

It's common to have 30-35 minutes in many secondary schools near me.

It used to only be the schools with behaviour challenges who did this, with the schools who have better behaviour having 45mins-1hour, but now short lunches are the norm.

25 minutes is increasingly common now, with the requirement for more teaching hours. Standard is more like 30-40.

Same in my DC’s secondary, it’s to curb bad behaviour. I think it’s fine tbh, we had an hour and people just got into fights every day.

All schools I've worked at for the past 10 years have half and hour staggered lunch. Prior to that the outstanding school I was at had 45 mins.

Ah well!
In days gone by lunch time was an hour+ which gave plenty of time for food, toilet and clubs. Then along came Mr Baker who said that teachers should work 1000(approx) hrs a year and that was kinda contractual. So teachers added up their contact and non contact time (preparation and marking time) and guess what - that left no time for running/supervising lunch time activities. So they stopped. Now schools were in the dilemma of what to do with the kiddywinks for approx 1hr. Revision of the school day! Simples!

We get 35 mins too and they're trying to shorten it to 30 mins.

Tutor time at the beginning and end for half the year group so we only have 20 mins when all kids are out.

It's to keep on top of behaviour.

Yes at all the schools I teach at its between 30 to 40 minutes.

Ds old school had 30 minutes, 2 years at a time staggered over 90 minutes.

We only have 25 mins now. It is all about reducing opportunities for poor behaviour and bullying. We're a small school and it is comfortably time for everyone to be served and eat though.

It is 30 mins here and then they get to leave earlier than other local schools so works perfectly all round.

the school are breaking the law as they must allow reasonable adjustments. I would remind them of this

That’s aimed at @MyMachineAndMe

We had a hour at school and a 20 mins break in the morning. We also finished at 3.05

I went to secondary (State Comp) last decade and we had 30 Mins for lunch (Were not allowed off campus until Sixth Form). It was a split school (Y7-Y9 and Y10-13) and Lunch was staggered, so only one year group at a time.
We also had a 20 Min Morning Break. We finished at 2:50. Clubs took place after School and would finish at 4:00
I went to a different Sixth Form and we had 90 Minutes (this is when Clubs would take place) but finished at 4:00 and only had 10 minutes for Break.

I checked the schools near me:
School A
(Y7-9)
Start Time: 8:45, Break: 10:20 (20 Minutes), Lunch: 1:15 (40 Minutes), End: 3:05
(Y10 & 11)
Start Time: 8:45, Break: 11:40 (20 Minutes), Lunch: 1:15 (40 Minutes), End: 3:10

School B:
(Y7 & 8)
Start Time: 8:40, Break: 10:00 (15 Minutes), Lunch: 12:25 (40 Minutes), End: 3:05
(Y9-11)
Start Time: 8:40, Break: 11:05 (15 Minutes), Lunch: 1:30 (40 Minutes), End: 3:10

School C:
(Y7-11)
Start Time: 8:25, Break: 10:50 (25 Minutes), Lunch: 1:15 (45 Minutes), End: 3:00

School D
(Y7-Y11)
Start Time: 8:40, Break: 11:00 (20 Minutes), Lunch: 1:20 (50 Minutes), End: 3:10

So, does seam a little under (by my area anyway), but not two drastic.