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Primary education

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Original poster

Gov't Reduction in Playtime for Juniors - ?

27 replies

carocaro · 21/01/2010 18:24

DS1 aged 7 has come home today and said that Gordon Brown has made schools (Juniors only) have no afternoon play.

No letter/email about it from school. Other children were talking about it in the playground.

DS1 is furious and said in the car that Gordon Brown Sucks. Great way to turn a generation off voting labour!

Need to get more details, but just though MN's might know more?

OP posts:
Original poster
carocaro · 21/01/2010 18:26

"Thatcher Thatcher Milk Snatcher"

What could we have for Gordon?

"Gordon Brown, Gordon Brown, makes all the kids in the payground frown"

OP posts:
mrz · 21/01/2010 18:27

Sorry carocaro it isn't true.

amidaiwish · 21/01/2010 18:28

good! in DDs school they start at 8.50, have a a 15 min break at 10.15-10.30
lunch 11.45-1.25
playtime 2.20-2.35
it's bloody ridiculous.
cut down the playtime and let them finish at 2pm!

amidaiwish · 21/01/2010 18:28

and finish at 3.15 btw!

Littlefish · 21/01/2010 20:18

There are a set number of hours for both Junior and Infants. Juniors are longer than infants. It may be that your ds's school has calculated the working hours and realised that KS2 are not doing enough, and have taken away the afternoon playtime as a result.

Perhaps the school have decided to blame Gordon Brown as a way of deflecting the ire from themselves!

I know of very few schools where KS2 have an afternoon playtime.

amaidawish - does your dd's school really have 1hr 40 mins for lunch? That's ridiculously long! Do all the children have all that time, or is it staggered?

mrz · 21/01/2010 20:28

The minimum recommended teaching hours for junior children is 23.5 hours which means amidaiwish's child's school is over 2 hours short or all those afternoon playtimes...

juneybean · 21/01/2010 20:40

Didn't realise juniors had afternoon play, they didn't when I was young lol

youwillnotwin · 21/01/2010 20:44

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Littlefish · 21/01/2010 20:57

"all afternoon" is only about 2 hours.

coppertop · 21/01/2010 21:11

There is no afternoon playtime at all at our school. Tbh I would find it a little odd if they did. As Littlefish says, there are only 2hrs or so between lunchtime ending and home-time.

LynetteScavo · 21/01/2010 21:13

there is no afternoon break at our Juniors, but it's not unknown for a treacher to send the class out for a run around to let them burn off some energy.

youwillnotwin · 21/01/2010 21:14

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

NoahAndTheWhale · 21/01/2010 21:15

I think quite a lot of KS2 children don't have afternoon play and haven't for a while (so Gordon Brown can't be blamed )

ShoshanaBlue · 21/01/2010 21:28

Key stage 2 in our school get no playtime at all!

cornsilk · 21/01/2010 21:31

I've worked in lots of schools - none of which had afternoon play for Juniors. However if someone's going to get blamed for the urban myth can it at least be Dave?

bruffin · 21/01/2010 21:46

My DCs never had afternoon play in kS2. I did in the 60/70s but we didn't finish school until 4

memoo · 21/01/2010 21:48

A lot of schools don't have afternoon play for KS2, its been like that ever since became a TA which was years ago

choccyp1g · 21/01/2010 21:52

Our school has a system where they don't have afternoon play, but the playground is supervised* for 20 minutes after the end of school, and you collect them anytime during that period. DS considers this "afternoon play" to be the best time of the day.
It also helps to stagger the car-parking, and give parents' time to get there from the infant school.

choccyp1g · 21/01/2010 21:53

*The asterisk was going to lead on to a long exposition about the quality of the "supervision", but on reflection, life is too short.

cat64 · 21/01/2010 21:56

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn

amidaiwish · 21/01/2010 21:57

well DD1 is in Y1, but they def have that long for lunch. MAD.

amidaiwish · 21/01/2010 21:58

we do tend to have shorter holidays. only 5.5 weeks last summer. maybe that's how they do it? will find out tomorrow re juniors.

Littlefish · 21/01/2010 21:59

Cat64 is right - changing the start or finish time of the day requires lots of notice to parents, and possibly consultation. It's much easier to shift break times and lunch times around to get the right number of hours as this doesn't have to go out to external consultation.

CardyMow · 21/01/2010 23:51

Haven't had any of mine have afternoon play in KS2, in fact, IIRC, I didn't have afternoon play in KS2 either. And it's been 20 yrs since I went into KS2. Then again, my DC's primary doesn't have (scheduled)afternoon play in KS1 either. KS1 day is 8.50am-3pm, KS2 day is 8.45am-3pm, each with a 1 hr lunch, and a 20 min morning play.

coppertop · 22/01/2010 17:42

I think I might have solved the mystery for the OP. This seems to be part of a literacy exercise that schools are doing atm. They tell the children that playtime is being removed by someone and then get the class to write letters to the person telling them what they think of the idea.