School is so miserable right now

[boredorboard]

I don't know what the answer to this is? I am fully supportive of preventing staff and students catching Covid from each other but my DC at state secondary are finding break times really hard.

Each year group has its own outside area which is a sports court surrounded by a chain link fence. There is nowhere to sit and no shelter from rain or wind. They have to collect food from the canteen and then eat it in their sports court either standing up or sitting on the cold (often wet) ground.

They will not be allowed inside the building unless there is HEAVY rain.

What I can't understand is if they are in year group bubbles anyway why they cannot go into their form rooms during break and lunch times. They are at no greater risk of spreading Covid during those times than when they all sit in a classroom for the 5 hours of lesson time each day? Am I missing something?

For context before Covid they could spend time in their form rooms during breaks. (Plus hang out in the canteen, library or any nook and cranny inside the school but I get this would mean the mixing of bubbles and isn't allowed). Bit why are form rooms now out of bounds? Each year group bubble is in a separate area of the school.

I am all for encouraging fresh air in general but this situation can't go on for the next 6 months surely. It's only September and it's freezing and wet! What are other schools doing?

I'm all for backing up school policies but I'm finding this one hard to justify.

Ours is nothing like this.

Each year/house has been assigned a "welfare room" in the school.
They go there in the morning for a "Wellbeing" period for any updates/information.

For morning interval and lunch they prebook, on a new mobile phone app developed over the summer hols, their snack and/or lunch. They go to their welfare room and one student goes and picks up the box for their room with that groups food and they eat in the room. Or they can bring in their own packed lunch.

Options are reduced but for lunch today are: Leek & Potato Soup, Main Steak Pie and Mash, Grab and Go options - Baked potato, Cheese and Ham Panini, Cheese and Tomato Pizzini, Chicken Burger - all served with coleslaw, salad and a drink.

After eating they can either stay in their welfare room or go outside to an area for their year group (also a bonus for ds as it means the S1's dont "annoy" them).

ds's lunch year/house group doesn't have most of his friends in it, but he knows a couple of people he can talk to so not a big deal. He actually prefers this as the canteen used to have huge queues so a lots of kids went to the burger vans outside which werent brillant, now he gets a reasonable choice of different food every day.

At the primary I work at the classes all eat in their classrooms but I guess it's a bit different at secondary.
I've been doing extra at lunchtime as they need supervision now. My jobs definitely got harder. They see me as a nag going on about hygiene all the time.
Your situation won't be sustainable in the winter surely, they will have to come up with something.
I feel sorry for the kids at the moment. School sucks big time.

I can see your concern, but as others have said the management of the students is massive.

My school has split breaks and lunch and if its wet at lunch they go to their P4 lesson room, teenagers do not have the first clue about how to not make a mess so in my 30 minute lunch I am now supervising students so I have them for 90 minutes and getting them to tidy up so lots of nagging. I haven't signed up for a lunch duty so I am unpaid and it is my only break during the whole day. On not wet days I am spending the majority of my lunch removing students from the toilets in my block, just being idiots in there!

School is so tough for all at the moment, I am trying not to nag them all the time but its really hard to not get frustrated.

Would you like to have a lesson in a room with loads of food rubbish all over the floor?

It's a tricky situaton but it does sound a bit miserable. I know other local secondary schools are doing similar so you're not alone but I wouldn't fancy eating standing up in the drizzle either.

Yep ours is the same. Mine has just started year 7 and is starting to get really fed up when it should be exciting and new. Lunch eaten outside in the rain (and we’ve had some major downpours!) queuing for food takes most of lunch break so we are trying to do packed lunches or there’s no time to use the toilet either. Once they’ve eaten in the rain they are then in sipping wet clothes for the rest of the day. No lockers so carting around heavy bags etc. It’s not much fun and will only get worse as the weather gets worse.