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.

Ok, so your initial hand-wringing op is full of inaccuracies. School is 8.30-2.50, buses leave 10 mins after the end of school. During the day, there is a total of 60 mins of break - the only difference being made is that they are now split into two breaks of equal length rather than one long and one short.

Total non-issue.

Well I would disagree but that's fine if you think that.

My main concern of them effectively having 15 mins to eat lunch remains.

There are 50 mins of break, not 60.

And five mins at either end of the two breaks will be spent walking to the canteen or common room or back to lessons. So that's more like 30 mins of actual break.

You can't count the "changeover" as a break. I've already explained they need that time to walk to lessons.

They already get this time without it been timetabled. They currently have to walk from one lesson to another, it's just at the minute they're always a few mins late to lessons.

Most schools don't have a changeover time. I have never worked in a school which does. It does mean that students can pop to the loo/fill their water bottles/other brief necessary things. And teachers can have a breather, set up for next lesson. Most schools go straight from one lesson to the next.

Yeah we never had changeover when I was at school.

Even when swimming was at the other end of town from the school. We turned up 20 mins late to every RE lesson and got a detention when the head was in a bad mood!

And I didn't know about behaviour being worse after lunch. So that's interesting and explains why lunch and lesson 4 aren't the other way round.

at the minute they're always a few mins late to lessons
Pointless and disruptive
The best schools I work in (supply teacher) have a changeoever period so no-one is late to lessons (or rather they have no excuse for being late) much better for behaviour and for ensuring everyone starts learning at the same time.
Usually there is a slightly shorter break time - (eg 20 mins) and longer lunchtime - eg 40 mins, but if it is 40 mins then there is likely to need to be clubs running - otherwise in secondary schools much more time than is necessary to actually eat is counter-productive.
Usually the schools with the worst behaviour have the shortest break times, fro obvious reasons.
Rather than complain before trying it - wait and see.

Could be the timetable for lunch and breaks is for her year only.
When my dd's where in the same school, their timetable where different and times staggered.
Same with the local academy and other schools.
Lunch starts at 12 and then there's 3 or 4 sittings. So you aren't serving 1000+ in one go.

No the timetable is for the whole school. Having a staggered lunch sounds like a good idea. Maybe if this timetable doesn't work they might do that.

Lesson 6 and 7 will just be for some GCSE or A-Level subjects that they haven't managed to fit into the normal timetable, so it won't be every day and they might just have to do lesson 6 or 7.

The 25 minute lunch is still crap though. I'd suggest that they take tutor time and put it after lunch and pull everything 20 minutes earlier so lunch isn't so late. Also they should open the canteen at break time.

My son's school has two 20 minute breaks during the day. It seems to work well. That said, it would probably be better if one was 15 and the other was 25 so there was a little more time to eat a cooked meal. But on the whole I agree with short breaks as they finish school earlier, can do after-school activities earlier and it limits the chances of misbehaving and bullying.

I've just received the timetable for my DD who will be starting Yr7 in Sept

8.35-8.50 regisration
8.50-9.50 Period 1
9.50 - 10.50 Period 2
10.50 - 11.10 Break
11.10- 12.10 Period 3
12.-10 - 1.10 Period 4
1.10 - 2.25 Lunch & enrichment activities
2,25-2.35 registration
2.35 - 3.35 Period 5

So for lunch they will get 1hr 15 mins. and only 1 lesson in the afternoon. Also lunch over 1hr later than DD is currently used to but I am sure she will cope. They can pre order food for break and lunch time apparently. I am sure she will enjoy the enrichment activiies every day too.

30 mins seems no time at all to be expected to eat and socialise..