Do you think 25 mins lunch break is too short?

[VivaLeBeaver]

Dds school have sent a letter home saying the day is being.

The mid morning break is been reduced from 15 to 10 mins and lunch is being reduced from 35 mins to 25 mins. That's a 25 min gap from the end of of one lesson to the beginning of the next.

By the time they've actually left the classroom and met up with friends and sat down and started eating and then had to think about making sure they get to afternoon lessons in time you're looking at a 15 min break.

That's if they have a pack up. If they have to queue at the canteen to be served a hot meal it'll be more like 5 mins to eat. The letter does say they're looking at an app to pre order food and more vending machines to speed up lunch queue! But they'll still have to queue to be served.

I just feel a bit sad that there doesn't seem to be any thought about the importance of kids actually having a bit of time with their friends.

too short. crap for pupils ,and staff too I expect.

They all need time to refuel and refresh themselves.

Bloody hell, lunch time isn't till 1:30!

So with a non academy is there a legal minimum time for lunch?

That states morning break is 25 mins plus 5 mins changeover time between lessons. In total, the breaks amount to an hour.

Not saying I agree - where I teach we have 20 mins in the morning and 40 for lunch. Most of the kids eat more at morning break. Our lunchtime is 13.15 which probably explains why.

It also says that lessons 6 & 7 are for "some" 6th form and "some" year 11 students.

So no time for kids to kick a football around. Staff won't want to go through things at the end of a lesson or help those that get stuck as they will be bolting for their lunch. Getting something to eat, a hot drink and a wee will be impossible in this time. Will this affect staff retention? And recruitment. All very well for the SLT who can eat and have a loo break anytime. Poor children

We have 20 minutes for morning break and 55 for lunch. Lunch time is still pushed for time when you factor in activities, helping students and detentions. I can imagine recruitment and retention of staff will really be an issue.

Ds has ten minutes in the morning and then 40 mins for lunch and that doesn't start until 1.40. I've given up trying to understand tbh

Has anyone else looked at the photo the op posted? She's misunderstood, or is deliberately throwing in duff information to make people agree.

Yes, 25 mins is short, but I go from tutor period to lesson 1 to lesson 2 with no breaks at all, then after a 15 minute morning break, we go straight through to 1.15. In the picture the OP has posted, there's a 5 min break (long enough to nip to the loo if necessary) for lesson changeover plus 2 x 25 min breaks. I'm guessing the school has already consulted with staff if this has now gone out to parents.

Definitely not long enough. We used to get 1hr and 15 mins and this was at a grammar school which was one of the top three schools in our city.

EvilTwins. I'm certainly not giving out duff info, Id hardly have posted the photo if I was.

The five mins is so they have time to walk from one lesson to the next. It's a massive school and it can take more than five mins to walk from one lesson to another depending where the lessons are. On parents evening it takes me over five mins going between classrooms a lot of the time.

Yes they do get a break mid morning but the canteen isn't serving food. Even if they did then 10:55 is a bit early to be having lunch. Dd would eat another meal at 3pm if she did that and then still want dinner.

I guess she could have a big snack at 11am and lunch at 1:30 but she's trying not to snack between meals so neither of those options is overly healthy from an obesity point of view.

I know, but why cram everything into an 'morning?' The kids get hungry and I don't believe learning is better before lunch I don't care what research has shown

OP, you originally stated that morning break was being reduced from 15 minutes to 10.

guess she could have a big snack at 11am and lunch at 1:30 but she's trying not to snack between meals so neither of those options is overly healthy from an obesity point of view.

So send her into school with the "correct" amount of food and allow her to decide when to eat what. Pretty sure that's what most kids I teach do.

Why does the canteen not serve food at break time? What about the kids on free school meals, are they supposed to go till half one without food?

eviltwins fair enough, I did type that. Meant to say it's been reduced by 10 mins to 25mins. I certainly wasn't trying to mislead anyone. I don't have a problem with the length of the break time. They could reduce that by ten mins and increase lunch by ten mins and Id think that was a better option to be honest.

And I do send dd in with the "correct" amount of food. But she already comes home and ransacks the cupboards, which will be even worse if she has lunch at 10:55. And to be honest if she has her lunch that early I couldn't blame her for needing to eat mid afternoon. But it's hardly healthy is it? And I'm at work so can hardly stop her either.

Given that morning break is going to be 25 mins, I would be amazed if the canteen wasn't open.

My only concern with the proposal would be that there wouldn't be long enough to get every one through at lunchtime - there would need to be a very efficient system for queuing for and serving food.

Other than that, I really can't see a problem. The day is going from 8.30 - 2.50 for the vast majority - that's pretty short.

And is also a later start and earlier finish then currently.

Dd says start and finish times are the same. I always assumed that the school starts at 8am as that's what time dd gets there on the bus but she tells me it doesn't start till 8:30. I didn't know she spent 30 mins hanging around waiting for school to start until today.

Likewise her bus leaves school at 3pm.

So effectively she is there from 8-3.

There's well over 1000 kids at the school. PAN is 220 a year. No idea how they'll serve that number of kids in 15-25 mins. I guess some will have pack lunch but a lot won't.