Year 7 & 8 children in break time?!!! Is PLAYING a thing of the past?

[Confused687]

Help! I could really do with as many replies as possible as I'm finding it really hard to get my head around and I have DC moving into to Year 7 soon and from the schools I have looked at 'play' seems to be considered babyish!!!!!

What do your year 7 children, and also year 8, do in break and lunch times at school? Are they outside getting fresh air? Do they hang around their form rooms chatting? Do they use phones for texting or social media? Do they fill their lunch breaks with clubs or go to the library to do homework or read?

Do any of them go out side and PLAY? Or is playing something that is left behind when the leave primary school? :(

[Northernsoul58]

Agree with yeOldeTrout, at DS's (very socially integrated religious high) school they play, but in a different way.

An anecdote - DS, in yr 11, told me yesterday that while he was 'socialising' (as yeOldeTrout described), a much younger boy "rode up" to his group. As he passed, the joker in his group threw his hands in the air and mock threw himself in front of the horse shouting 'Votes for Women'. LOL. This naturally and cleverly attracted the attention of the girls. I didn't hear what happened to the horse or its rider, but it demonstrates that the different year groups can and do rub along together.

[Helenluvsrob]

IME girls don't play at secondary but boys do. THough this might be that a boys school allows the to still play without girls making adverse comments

Playground footy/rugby ( playground rugby- faints!) was popular at DS school up to about year 9-10.

[redskybynight]

By the time they've been to and from lockers and eaten lunch, it sounds like there is not much break time left.

For the record, DS tells me he "chills out" during breaks.

[BackforGood]

My ds used to play football a lot.

My dds didn't get a huge amount of break time - by the time you've been let out a couple of minutes late, and been to your locker to dump stuff / get the stuff for the next lessons, then refilled your water bottle and/or gone to the canteen for something or just eaten a snack from home, then it would be time to go to the next lesson.

Dinner times - ds used to go to quite a few clubs (he is NOT what you'd consider a 'geek' so def didn't apply at his school). dds less so, but their canteen is tiny and the school organisation non-existent so they seem to spend most of (relatively short) lunch break queuing for their dinner.

You don't "go out to play" at secondary school though - never did even back when I was at school in the 70s, so not a new thing.

[mychildrenarebarmy]

It depends on the child really. Most don't play as they consider play babyish. If however you have a daughter like mine then fully expect to be told about how they "and a couple of friends were playing a a game where we were wolf cubs at lunch. Some of the other girls told us they shouldn't be playing games any more. Well, I wasn't going to put up with that so I told them it was none of their business what we did. Then we carried on."

Outside I was proud of her for standing up for herself and being how she wanted to be. Inside I was extremely nervous for the attention it would get her. I shouldn't have worried, a year later and she hasn't had any trouble (or none that has bothered her). BUT she is also not in the slightest bit interested in phones etc, and doesn't pay a jot of attention to people who can't accept her for who she is.

[AgeingArtemis]

I used to "play" for the first year or two of secondary (started in 2007).We used to play a version of tag running around behind shelves and lockers (so you couldn't be seen until the last minute) or try to jump across at small stream at varying widths (at least once a month someone fell in...) but even then we were very much in the minority.

I don't think we were considered babyish, just a bit strange

The girls who didn't play would sit around and chat, or sometimes do silly things like make a list that matched up our teachers with their "corresponding" harry potter teacher.

By the time I left school I did notice that there was a lot more sitting around on phones in silence.

[pourmeanotherglass]

Mine don't do clubs, they prefer to chill with their friends. DD1 in yr 8 hangs around with a big group, they sometimes play games (manhunt or card games) and sometimes just chat. DD2 in yr 7 is still getting to know people, as there are were only a couple from her primary that went to her secondary, she mostly hangs around in a small group chatting.

[Almostfinished15]

My DC are not allowed to use their phones at all or they're confiscated for a length of time between 1 day and half term (it builds up i.e. 1 day, 2 days, end of week, 2 weeks, 3 weeks, end of half term) and there aren't many lunch clubs apart from sport and musical theatre.
DS (Year 8)plays football or eats during lunch/break times. He usually goes to football and athletic clubs at lunch when they're on.
A boy in DD's year (Year 11) brings in cards against humanities in the winter so they play (illegally, may I add - they aren't allowed inside that building) under some stairs below their lockers. During the summer they play a variety of games including it, hide and seek, ninja, paranoia.... Occasionally a friend will bring a tennis ball in and they'll play piggy in the middle or 3 vs 3 football.
It's nice to see that 15 years olds don't care about playing!
But her lunches are now taken up by additional maths, school choir, "lunch and learn" and rehearsals for the school play - so she's only out for 25 minutes max a day.

[Heifer]

My DD (yr 7) goes to a club most lunchtime, but she is very sporty and at a school that has extended lunch time (1.25 mins). They are made to do at least 3 activities a week (lunchtime or after school).

I suspect that a lot of her peers would happily sit around chatting all lunch time if they were allowed. Phoned aren't allowed to be on during school hours and will get confiscated if seen with them so that helps with the instagram stuff (during school time at least, still leaves plenty of group pouting time unfortunately).

I often walk past the school and have never seen anyone "playing" as they do in juniors so I suspect until it's a formal activity it just doesn't happen.

[SellFridges]

When I was a lass the boys played football (heads and volleys) and the girl watched. Except when it rained. Then, the boys played poker and the girls watched. The girls would sometimes walk round the school but only to have a look at the boys who were playing football elsewhere. I don't remember any lunch time clubs so at least they're an option now!

[leavemealone2015]

We used to play ball games I. Groups against the wall like Kingdm or wink murder or wander round talking and exploring. Da played football and rugby or wandered round chatting outside .

[HearTheThunderRoar]

DD's school forces them to go outside for lunch and break during the summer / spring unless it's raining. Winter / autumn they are mostly inside as it's too cold and often the tables etc are covered in frost.

DD doesn't go to any clubs, she use to do debating in year 7&8 but now she just chills with her friends, checks social media. DD says in the summer they are rarely on their phones but just chat or make daisy chains.

[knittedsoxer]

DS 1 started this sept, apparently they hang out at the bistro




he wanted to take his baseball bat, mitt and ball the other day, already in his bag.....
i had to gentle explain that this was likely to end up with a weeks detention...clueless

[HildaFlorence]

One of the reasons we choose our boys school is that the DC still have long breaks and the play .Helped by the fantastic grounds definitely but never mind year 7 and 8 the sixth formers are often out playing footie with jackets as goalposts and it's not unusual to see even year 10s playing tag etc . Big contrast with my older ds school where right from year 7 playing was uncool and they all just hung around in groups

[PassiveAgressiveQueen]

Have girls ever played in secondary school? I know i wasn't allowed to in the 80's, got the piss royally taken the one time my friend and i tried.

[waitingforsomething]

I'm a secondary teacher and ive never seen children playing anything other than football or basketball. There is a lot of hanging around gossiping, never seen an imaginative game on the go in 7 years

[Theonethatgotaway772]

Asked my 13 and 14 year olds if anyone plays at school,they both said its not primary school nobody plays.

[nicp123]

DS at grammar school, mobile phones are a No-no. Very little play involving just kicking a ball for a few minutes. Many lunchtime clubs on offer such as: Debating, Comedy/Drama, Guitar, Drums, Chess, Art, DT, tennis, table tennis, etc. My DS does swimming and photography. He also likes meeting outside with friends-chatting over a hot chocolate drink. If bad weather he goes in the library and does some of his homework or "runs for his life" to get a sit in the ICT suite.
In the summer more things to do than in the winter.

[ladydepp]

My ds is 13, he plays football or some kind of hide and seek or goes to a (sports or music) club. If I found out he was on his phone (he has no mobile data) I would take it away from him.

Some of his classmates are on their phones during the whole of break, that is very depressing!

[dotdotdotmustdash]

At the school I work in the 11-13yr olds seem to spend their time beating each other up and the period after break is spent taping them back together again.

It's a school with ishoos.

[Gracegrapecherry]

In my daughters class, they do everything. Many girls play around and do social media, taking selfies etc. and loads of girls go to clubs, there are a group of children at the library doing homework. My daughter chats with her friends and makes sure she has the right things for her next lessons.

[notmynameohno]

DS yr7 plays football if they are allowed on the field - it's not permitted on limited playground space. Otherwise they're on their phones playing the latest game. Clubs are not cool.

[MilkRunningOutAgain]

There are table tennis tables and DS, yr 8, often plays at break and lunch. They only get 50 mins for lunch, the queue for the canteen is long, by the time he's eaten there is little time to play, he complains about this frequently. He does do a few clubs, but mainly in the summer as he likes summer sports so he is busy with clubs in summer term, and practice for them starts in spring term. He often doesn't eat lunch if he goes to a lunch time club and comes home starving.

[MilkRunningOutAgain]

Meant to add he often plays kick a bout too, and tag. Mobile phones are not allowed during the school day.

[Gwynfluff]

I started secondary nearly 30 years ago. Definitely did not 'play' at secondary. I recognised it to be a watershed moment when that would stop. DD has used her secondary breaks to consolidate a new friendship group - they seem to have a lot of fun though doing the sort of things we also did 30 years ago, but backed up by what's app. So stupid in-jokes, talking about boys, teachers, etc.