Please tell me about break times in your school

[cyclinghappy]

DD came home today and said that the school day is being reorganised a bit. Currently morning break is 20 minutes, lunch is 1 hour and afternoon break is 10 minutes.

From Monday the morning break will be 15 minutes, lunch is being brought forward to an earlier time and the afternoon break will no longer be. Instead, there will be an afternoon assembly.

All of this information is coming via the children who have been informed by the teachers. So far no official communication has come from the school.

Please tell me how your school's day is organised? How can the children work well in the afternoon without a break?

some of them can go out at choosing time and sometimes they use the outside learning space but otherwise no they are inside.

My current school.

Morning play - 10:50 to 11:05

Afternoon play - 2:20 to 2:30

Although in practise, playtimes tend to go on a bit past this, at the teacher of duty's discretion. For instance, if the weather is particularly nice, they might stay out an extra 5 minutes or so. Particularly the little ones.

My school DO have an afternoon break for KS2, but that is unusual these days. Most schools don't.
In my days at school (mid-90s for primary), afternoon play was the done thing for KS1 and KS2. But mostly it's been squeezed out for KS2 because of extra demands on the timetables.

cyclinghappy I think (after seeing your other post about the interim head) that our DC are at the same school (RP by any chance?). I teach in a similar school not too far away from RP and we have an earlier lunch time and no afternoon break and finish at 3.45pm in the Juniors. To be honest, it is bloody hard work and the kids are shattered by the end of the day. I sometimes take them out for a run -around if they need it. I always liked the fact that the school I think your DC are at also has an afternoon play.

Thanks pudding. Yes it is RP. The new head is making lots of changes and I am getting the impression that neither the kids or the teachers are happy. I'm waiting for the dust to settle. I think that there are quite a few kids who will suffer from the lack of an afternoon break but am happy to be proved wrong.

At the school I teach in infants have lunch at 12:00 then playtime until 1:00. They also have 15 minutes playtime at 2:30. Juniors finish at 12:15 and go into their playground for 15 minutes until infants have finished lunch. Juniors come into lunch at 12:30 and then out to play until 1:15 in their play area. They are never in the hall for very long - seem to eat their lunch amazingly quickly so they can get out to play again! Juniors don't have afternoon play. Everyone goes home at 3:20. Works well for us. All assemblies are in the morning in my school.

KS2 YR3

School starts 9.00
break 11.15-11.30
lunch 12.30-1.30
school ends 3.30

cyclinghappy You are right, the teachers don't seem to be at all happy at the moment! I think it will settle down after the summer holidays though.