Or is 30 minutes too short for school lunch?

[flossydog]

I live next to a school, and it has a 30 minute lunch break. I went to three secondary schools growing up, and checking their timetables, they now have a 35, 40, and 45 minute lunch break respectively. I suspect some of them have shortened the break in the 20 odd years since I left.

AIBU or is 30 minutes too short to eat your lunch, go to the loo, and socialise?

(I often take an hour out for lunch at work as an adult, but it's not as if I'm on the clock.)

Yes, too short for a proper break. I’m assuming it’s to do with cramming more pupils into the same space?

Schools have more pupils than they are built to house, so have to stagger lunch slots a lot of the time. Run properly, kids can eat and have a wee and get back for their next class in thirty mins. They chat all day in class anyway.

YABU, it’s a fairly standard lunch break both in schools and the work place. Do you even have kids in the school?

It is too short in my opinion. I have worked as a teacher in schools where it is 30, 40 and 50m
Most schools chose a short lunchtime because they want to limit the possibility of poor behaviour in my opinion. Quite a few are moving to split lunchtimes to get all the pupils served.

I agree it’s too short. My kids get 1hr 15 mins (independent school).

As long as it’s properly timetabled so not queuing for half of it then it’s fine. Too much unstructured time tends to be a problem

My school lunch break was 85 mins - 1150 to 1315 which was brilliant, and even year 7 kids could leave school grounds for whatever reason

Ours was shortened because the school could not recruit lunch time supervisors , the kids were getting bored and getting g up to mischief . Break has been lengthened so they now have two 35 min breaks . Most pupils eat in the first break .

It’s too short for school dinners. My DC have to take a packed lunch otherwise most of their lunch would be wasted queueing. Their school does it to cut down on socialising which may sound odd but it’s to prevent fighting. I can understand, we had an hour and it was too long. Fights broke out most day at our school.

My child isn't old enough yet, so it's just me considering it from the outside, sure.

I think the workplace comparison isn't quite right though because kids have different needs.

Crikey that's ages. Not so hot on actually teaching and supervising the kids during the day then 😂

My teens were bored with a long lunch at school, there was nothing to do.

It was you who made the work place comparison but fair enough. Works fine in my DCs school

I left school in 2001. By the time I was in year 10, school had cut the lunch break to 35 mins and shortened the school day by 30 mins to 'compensate' it was to cut the poor behaviour and to stop students leaving the grounds.

Would have been an issue at my school as most extra-curricular clubs ran at lunchtime due to the majority of children having to get the school bus home. DS's school has 45 minutes but allows them to bring a packed lunch to clubs. One school we looked at for DD had 30 minutes (not necessarily a problem) but was staggered for each year group so the year 7's were at 11.30 which seems too early. Even worse was year 11 at 1.30 as school finished at 3, that must make for a very long morning!

It's partly due to supervision, but largely down to behaviour control. Too long and they get into trouble; also gives them more time to go off-site and get into trouble in the local community. Extreme example but 2 of our pupils once went and held up the local petrol station! 😶

I saw the lunch time eroded from 1 hour 10 minutes to 30 over the 28 years l taught in the same secondary.

It’s to do with behaviour and not being able to get lunch time assistants. It’s way too short, my Audhd ddcouldn’t cope with 30 minutes.

Also, kids don’t chat all day. Not in my lessons they didn’t anyway.

My dd chose the only secondary school in our area that has a one hour break which is from 1.30 to 2.30 pm (then they have a one hour lesson after lunch and go home). It was a big selling point as I totally agree 30 mins is not enough.

At DD’s school lots of clubs run in lunch break and it means kids actually attend - if the clubs ran after school they probably would just peel off and go home. Detentions for minor rule infractions are also done in lunchtime.

But a lot of kids just enjoy having time to unwind with friends.

And it means that since clubs and detentions are usually at lunch, kids aren’t missing buses and trains and also they are walking home in a pack rather than dribbling out at 4.30pm which I dislike for security

Hello France calling.... Two hour lunch break is standard, and sacrosanct here.

@Dablabyour school certainly didn’t teach you any manners, did it? FYI, we had two school buildings with identical kitchens/dining rooms so no one had to rush lunch. The teaching was and still is excellent, as was lunch time supervision. Leaving the school grounds was permitted. HTH

I should move to the continent!

What's the French answer to the concern expressed in the other comments that the children are bored or cause trouble with so long a break?

My secondary school had 30 minute lunches, with three sittings. For those on school dinners, this sometimes meant spending the bulk of your lunchtime queuing up for food, and having to bolt it down in the last five minutes. However, even 30 minutes was excruciating for socially anxious me, who may as well have had a target above my head saying, "Pick on me!" I hated school!

It was a novelty to go to sixth form, where lunches were a whole hour.

My teens complain about not having time to queue and eat at lunchtime. Longer would be better.

It all went downhill when many schools stopped calling it school dinners.

Apparently schools have shortened lunch breaks to cut down on bullying and behaviour issues. They don't want kids socialising.