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.)

I was on free school dinners the whole time and I remember the semolina pudding! And I don't think I've had tapioca since leaving school. But I definitely think there's been a sea change from viewing the time as an important part of the schoolday to seeing it as an unfortunate necessity.

It was a 30 minute lunch break when I was at secondary school and it meant that a lot of kids didn’t have time to buy lunch - especially if the teacher kept the class back for a few minutes as the queue would already be too long to get through. I think it’s fine if it’s planned well with split groups though. DCs primary has 1 hour for the youngest and then 30mins from year 2, and I do think that isn’t long enough for that age.

It’s too short, but lots of state schools do it as it removes the problem of supervising students during unstructured time. Independent schools tend still to have 1 or 1.5 hours for lunch to allow for extracurricular stuff. Plus, they can afford more supervision. State schools finish earlier as a consequence, but supervision isn’t the schools’ problem then.

Oooh touched a nerve there 😂

This seems to be the consensus here. I think that's very likely the reason. I live next to a mediocre urban school with a short break, and the relatively affluent school in the countryside I went to when I was a teenage gives fifteen minutes longer at lunchtime. And that difference is the extent to which they trust the children to not cause problems.

DDs have 35mins. Its fine.

Only 2 year groups (total 400) in the lunch space. (2 sittings,but Yr11 have their own common room) with 3 food outlets. Plenty of toilets.

It means school finished at 3pm... then there's the Extra curricular available until 5pm. Also the library and computer rooms open until this time. Result... everyone can access these and still get home at a decent hour.

I compare my DDs School life balance to mine, and its fantastic.

Nope. Merely responding to your childish comment

Over reacting more like

My.secondary school would stagger lunch breaks. Year 7, 9 and 11 had break at the same time (but year 7 had a separate canteen). Then after 30 mins had form tutor time. And year 8s and 10s would have form tutor time then have lunch. Year 7s and 8s had their own canteen, 9, 10 and 11 shared one but because it was staggered it didn't take long to be served. Terrible school but I actually think they did a great job with lunches.

Back in the 80s our school had 1hr 20 mins lunch, a lot of local pupils went home for lunch. I did. There were clubs during lunchtime. The catchment covered villages up to 15 miles away so after school clubs were limited. School started at 8.50 and finished at 4pm.
Locally the schools seem to start a bit earlier and be done by 2.30. Even primary has longer day than secondary.

Numbers and supervision seem a bit weak as a reason, we were the 60s baby bulge. My old school now has about 500 pupils, that was not far away from one year group in the 80s.
If behaviour is so poor now compared to then discipline is clearly a major problem. It not like each generation doesn't have its proportion of feral kids.

Its 30 minutes at the school my DC attend. My DC complain they have to choose between eating and going to the toilet, the queues for the toilets and the canteen are both really long and eating is not permitted in the toilet queue. There are 270 pupils in one year and 3 years are on lunch at a time. There are 6 cubicles in the girls toilets (there are other toilet blocks in the school but they are kept locked out of use due to behavior issues). I was there for a parents evening last week and the sanitary bins were full to overflowing as clearly the demand exceeds the provision. If they are in either queue still when their break is up they are sent back to class. It feels so awful to me to be sending them to this every day.

My DCs school had a 30 min lunch break staggered as the school canteen was too small otherwise. Supposedly it reduces bullying. There wasn't time to queue up for a school dinner unless you were first in the queue.

DS1 changed schools in year 10. His new school had an hour for lunch and less bullying than the first one. Much better.

Yep, our school is now on a thirteen minute break and a thirty five minute lunch. It’s awful.

It is very businesslike in many academy trusts.

My school (as many schools) cut down lunch break during Covid.

at the time students weren’t supposed to have physical contact with each other at lunch or at break at it was a bloody nightmare trying to make the boys in particular stick to it.

we set up separate outdoor areas and indoor areas for each year group to keep them apart but it was still hard.

post covid we extended the lunch break again but there were so, so many behaviour issues. Fighting, vaping, etc etc. so it got shortened again.

supervision at lunch time is a big issue in most secondaries. You can’t get people to come in and do it, most primaries tack it onto a morning or an afternoon TA role.

Our school makes all teaching staff do a lunch duty once a week.

Thirteen minutes? What a random time!

It’s supposed to be twenty but they start blowing the whistle and ushering the kids in at exactly thirteen minutes past. I’ve timed it!

Mini blondes gets an hour and 8

My kids have that. It’s because we’re Scotland and school shuts at midday on Friday and they accommodate this by reducing lunch breaks. It’s a shite system in so many ways:

Kids don’t have time to eat lunch and socialise and so do one or the other.

uptake of free school lunches is low because the kids don’t like it eating into their lunchtime.

socialising is an important part of school for kids.

it’s hardly worthwhile them going on Friday so many parents don’t bother taking their kids in, and one working parent has to work part time to accommodate half day Fridays.

Yes it’s short but many schools have done this and finish earlier, our local secondary cut 20 minutes from lunch and finish 20 minutes earlier so students can pick up their younger siblings from primary if needed and the teachers (especially teaching assistants) can get to primary school pick up. Very popular with the staff. Wednesdays all staff stay on for meetings, training etc but they are free to leave at 3pm the rest of the week

I’m pretty sure we had a longer school day in the 90s when I was at secondary. There was absolutely a difference between the time I broke up from primary abc the time I broke up from secondary. My secondary child leaves school the same time as my primary aged child - 3.15pm. I think he also has an hour lunch but I’d have to check that.

Exactly this. My 12 year old always tells me breaks are boring and there's nothing to do.

This increases the likelyhood of poor behaviour.

They have two 30 minute breaks 1st lunch and 2nd lunch to minimise queuing and are scheduled for canteen access on just one of those slots.

He takes a packed lunch so that he can choose to eat at his leisure.

I have a 30 minute lunch at work. Took a little getting used to after previously having an hour but I actually like it better. No mucking about or wasted time and I don't get paid for lunch so the less time the better.

My 12 year old loves break times, she socialises with her friends or goes to a club. They don’t chat in lessons though so it’s the only time for socialising.

Do you think some of them have forgotten how to enjoy it?

I do. They haven’t got enough time to eat and play football so they just play football. Then come to p5 starving and desperate for the toilet as they haven’t done either.

Free time should never be boring for kids that age… part of being a child is having unstructured free time with friends!