School to be built with no playground or breaktimes because if children are enjoying lessons they don't need breaks - Has the world gone mad??

[coppertop]

The link is here but it takes a while to load.

A new secondary school is being built without a playground and the plan is to have no breaks either. I found the following quote quite disturbing:

"Project manager for the academy Miles Delap also defended the decision and said: ?This will not be like a traditional school, and we are setting it up like a business. You would not expect office workers to be allowed outside to run around."

My children aren't yet at secondary school age but this seems like complete madness to me. This is a state school btw.

Does this happen in other schools?

About 25 years ago when I was at secondary school there was a teachers strike of some sort when they withdrew lunchtime supervision, so our school day ran from 9 until about 1:30 with no lunch and just one 10 min break and the rest 5 mins between lessons (which were each 55 mins) and it was brilliant. We got home earlier and all worked better in the 'afternoon' lessons then if we had had a lunch break.

Message withdrawn

Isn't it illegal to go that long without a break? even if it is only for 15 mins?
and when do they eat lunch?

(am off to look at the link now, my answers are prob in there)

Is this an academy, or one of those new PFI-build schools? Because both schemes are going very badly wrong. There are new PFI schools with no staffrooms, for instance.

will there be a car park for the staff to park their cars? - bet they incuded that Perhaps this could be used as a play ground. Also is there a staff room for the staff to relax in their breaks?

IMHO break times are a valuable learning time in terms of socialisation.
One reason for proposing no breaktimes might be because they are too problematic.
This would indicate that social skills are becoming weaker on the whole - if breaktimes are a problem in this area, that is.
In which case we need more of them, in good surroundings with nice, sociable opportunities, not less of them!
Just beacuse children can't do something you don't stop trying!
Some kids find maths hard, but we don't stop maths lessons, we give them more iyswim.

Hard to imagine the mind of the person who designed such a building. Next perhaps there will be no school building because they can all sit at home and learn by themselves. It would probably be given some fancy name like "Individual Learning Programmes."

I suspect the real reason is the price of land.

peterborough isn't the same price as london - it's a good deal if you want to buy land there.

Children as employees.

But they're too young to legally work.

Why? Because they don't have adult capabilities! They're children.

FFS!

It's illegal to deny your employees break times, so why does anyone think it's okay to do that to kids?

Presumably they will have sports field, gymnasium and regular exercise as part of the curriculum - which would counter the vitamin D and obesity worries. Playing devil's advocate a bit here.

I live in a country were office workers get a paid break in the am and pm so it would never be even considered here.

ha fff!

it's bananas of course

I needed my smoke breaks when I was in high school .

Kids go faintly bonkers when they can't go outside. The only thing worse than a wet play time is a windy wet playtime. Kids go very bonkers when the wind is up! No idea why.

and all of this ignores the fact that kids can't concentrate for that long

Hell I couldn't even concentrate for that long.

Especially on something I find boring.

And I found school really boring as a teen.

Sounds more like a sweatshop kind of business if that is the case.

They say their age, plus 15 minutes.

This is just so fucking stupid, and obviously they have no real idea of how schools work!

I agree MB, nor do they have any idea about what children need to be able to grow into well rounded, functioning adults.

It's so bonkers. So utterly bonkers. And so depressingly likely.

Miles Delap is a civil engineer - if he has been stupid enough to say this, I hope he's willing to walk across a bridge designed by an educational psychologist! Funny how everyone thinks theyre an expert on education.

clap, clap, clap. A standing ovation to Muminbrum. You are totaly right.

I think it is because everyone has been to school (for quite a long time) they tend to think that they know how one works. And how to get the best out of kids.

[sigh]