How many lessons per day?

[lily1942]

I'm looking at various options for senior for my DD and there seems to be such a variety of timetables. My friend's DD goes to a school with a 1 hour 45 minute lunch break and no tutor time in the morning, straight into the first lesson. Our local school has 40 minute lessons and I am concerned that my DD will struggle with lots and lots of short lessons, constantly switching from one to the next with no form time to settle her.

What is normal for secondary? Are most lessons 40 minutes? Or an hour? How do your DC find it? I worry she'll just be frantically running from one thing to the next all day.

DD in Year 7 has 50 minute lessons. Short break in the morning (15 mins) and an hour at lunch. Five minutes between each lesson. She has registration / form time 8.30-9 and a short one after lunch. I think this is fairly standard and she quickly got used to it. They have lots of PE / drama / activities etc which breaks up the academic subjects.

DD had 6 50 minute lessons per day, usually with at least one of these being a double period. 25 mins of form each morning with year group and whole school assemblies taking up this time 2x/week, 20 mins for morning break and 45 mins for lunch.
Things never felt too rushed - DD enjoyed the variety as it made her days go quicker and meant she was rarely bored.

Your friend’s DD school sounds bonkers - what on earth are they meant to do for a nearly 2 hour lunch break? No form time is very strange and would concern me even from a pastoral point of view.

I've had DC at schools with a variety of approaches to timetabling. TBH I don't think it makes a huge difference - there are pros and cons to each and whatever the school does quickly becomes their students' normal routine.

Some private schools use long lunch breaks because they incorporate co-curriculars, meetings, and tutor-time into that break. A student might eat lunch and then attend orchestra practice on one day, have ccf/outdoor pursuits that starts midway through the lunch period on another, spend the first half of one day in the art studio or taking a dance class, etc. It's more common in schools with boarding and Saturday school to spread timetables out like this.

Some schools start the day with tutor time, while others just do registration by year or house and then incorporate tutor groups later in the day, and still others have chapel and school/year meetings first thing. I'm not sure I've come across a private school that doesn't have regular tutor time in the schedule but it often isn't first thing in the morning.

For the majority of secondary students what's important is that they're able to develop a sense of routine and it doesn't really matter what it is. Teachers adjust their lesson planning/structure for short, more frequent lessons vs longer, less frequent ones, and it all works out. If you have a student who struggles deeply with transitions compared to peers then it's perhaps something to consider. And I always recommend parents of prospective day pupils really look at the length of days (mandatory, recommended/expected/normal, and fully optional) at each private school and whether it works for their family. Otherwise don't get bogged down in the minutia.

A good private school will have a long lunch break. They are seen as social time to have a chat and relax with friends. Not a quick scoff of some chips.

The extra time is also used for clubs and activities. It gives a much broader education. Private schools usually have a longer day due to lunch being longer and might offer tea and prep time after school.

Lesson time can vary but short lessons aren’t great if dc don’t settle and then they’re off again to another lesson. However teachers need to teach well or a longer lesson means dc lose concentration. Schools should adjust lesson time to their learners.

Do they have double lessons for practical subjects? 40 minutes is to short for science practicals (cooking or DT). We've moved to 60 minutes and our teachers complain that's to short, even though year 10 & 11 do get some double lessons.

I’ve just checked and DSs school has an hour and 45 minutes for lunch. Lots of clubs, rehearsals etc plus I think they have tutor time some days. Lessons are 45mins long but they have lots of doubles. London day school.

Doubles for sport and science are fairly normal.

That's so reassuring, thanks everyone - I'm sure you're right about them getting used to whatever the routine is. I would definitely like her to be busy doing things at school, getting to try choir or netball at lunch. But it all seems quite similar.

50 minute lessons, the odd double lesson. Classes started at 8.50 went til 4.30. An hour and a half at lunch as that’s when most clubs met. 15 minute break after first two lessons I think. Then two more lesson then lunch then two more. More or less that.