AIBU to think half an hour is not long enough for a school lunch break?

[LordTrash]

Hello, really interested to hear all opinions on this, but especially those of teachers.

My dc school did a 'consultation' last month on whether to cut the school day by 10 mins by shortening the lunch break from 40 to 30.

I thought it was a bad move, and said so, giving a number of reasons. The school has now announced the 'following consultation' the day will be shortened as proposed, but they give no details of that consultation or how the decision was arrived at, so I wonder if the whole exercise was just flimflam to make parents think they were being listened to.

Word on the street is that they want to cut the lunch hour so older kids aren't getting involved in home time clashes with kids at a neighbouring (about 25 mins walk away) school.

So, is this done at your school? If so, how has it worked? I can't see how my dc - who do school council/production meetings etc at lunchtimes - can possibly find time to eat and unwind between sessions in such a short time.

Haven't read the whole thread but presume shortening lunch breaks also saves the school some money as then they don't have to pay so much for lunchtime supervision. If this is the case then the cuts that are still coming will probably affect many schools' lunch breaks.

It was not ideal but my DC had 30 minutes for lunch at elementary and middle school. The lunches were staggered and started at 10.30 a.m. for my DC when they were in third grade (school starts at 8.00 a.m. here). That actually worked out well for one of my DDs who is never hungry in the mornings and didn't like to eat breakfast. By the time 10.30 came around she was ready to eat. They had a snack at around 12.30 p.m. The final lunch serving was around 12.30 p.m. and those students would have had snack at around 10.00 a.m. and would have no afternoon snack. To encourage the students to eat, nobody was allowed to talk for the first 10 minutes of lunch.

Now they are going into high school and the school district are doing the opposite of yours. There is going to be a 'power hour' where the students get an hour for lunch. School will start at 8.30 a.m. and finish at 3.40 p.m for high school students.

I'm a teacher, we have an hour lunch. It's far too long. Lots of opportunity for mischief and often spend afternoon sorting this out. Would much rather finish earlier so can make productive use of afternoon

Our dc's school has 25 minutes, being cut to 20 minutes last year. Huge 14 form entry school. I find it amazing that they can get everyone through in the time, but the children assure me they do and it works.
The only complaint they have is that they can't have clubs at lunchtime really. But then one after school finishes relatively early.

20 minutes wouldn't be enough at DD's school. It takes her 10 minutes to walk back to post 16 from the science block. If she had a science after lunch she wouldn't have time to eat anything. They are very strict about where food can be consumed as well.

I taught at a school in which we were given only 20 minutes for lunch, it was pathetic. By the time I'd 'had a talk' with certain pupils, put up the next lesson activities on the board and gone to the toilet, there was hardly any time left to eat anything for lunch. The problem was of course far worse if I had my next lesson in a different classroom, as I'd have to go there and set up too.

For the students it was also not enough time. The canteen and toilet queues were horrendous, and students would arrive at your lesson clutching a takeaway box of half eaten food, or bursting for the toilet. Senior Management told us we must issue detentions for any student lateness after lunch break, and we all refused to do so. Many of us used to let them continue to eat for the first 5 minutes of the lesson while they copied down objectives etc - they really appreciated this, and behaved really well. My Head of Department also printed toilet permission labels for us all, & we stuck them in students diaries and let them go throughout the lesson one at a time. They were only usually allowed if they had a medical note.

Senior Management only realised what a dreadful cock up they'd made with their '20 minute idea' when they started doing their Teacher observations and saw students and staff banqueting at the beginning of the lesson, and a constant trickle of students back and forth to the toilets. They changed it to 30 minutes for the new school year, which I still do not believe to be good enough.

Argeles, that sounds hideous. As an ex-teacher, I just can't see how any time to actually eat would be found between clearing up one lesson and setting up the next.

I also think this is going to be difficult for the new y7 intake - I know both my dds took weeks to get to grips with what they were doing and where they were going on a huge school site. More unnecessary stress in the mix if they're rushing to eat/go to the toilet too.

Anyway, thanks so very much for all your insights. Obviously I won't be able to change the management's mind on this, but I do have a number of points I can make about speedier processing of the lunch queue etc., and I'm going to put them today.

Very common to have 30 mins and for it to be staggered. I'm supply, I was at one school that had compulsory breakfast - for staff and students, so teach 15 mns then breakfast for 15 (on a rota so some days you taught 45 mins which was better).

It was an absolute pain, however the area the school is in I think it is good idea to provide breakfast, not all kids will get one at home.

dds school staggered lunch every 10 mins from youngest to oldest year group. I don't think she ate lunch after year 9. School lunch was not optional

Dd's school's is 40 mins. Clubs are after school usually.

Half hour more than enough if staggered and managed properly. I've just had my half hour ! We also have a 2nd break of another half hour. Less chance for kids to get into mischief/fall out/smoke.

Wow, we had 1h15 min back in the 80's/90's. I have many fond memories of sitting & chatting with my friends or even impromptu basketball games between teachers and pupils!

Personally I think 30 min is too short if it involves having to queue for 20min too. I get 30 min at work, but don't have a queue. It gives me 15min to eat at leisure, time for a toilet visit and a quick browse on my phone.

We had quite a long lunch hour at my grammar school in the 80s. I remember chatting in the classroom, but on the hand i also remember us getting up to mischief, bullying going on and even two girls rolling around on the floor fighting. The devil makes work...

Schools where I have my kids at have an hour and a half for lunch, with at least 30 minutes being absolutely ring fenced to sit down and eat with their friends (i.e., they can do two 30 minute music lessons/clubs/meetings but one third is for eating properly and thoroughly).
Nobody mucks about because there's always things to do in a lunchtime.
40 minutes isn't enough for a club and a proper lunch. It should definitely not be shortenened!

We have 30 minutes but a rolling lunch hour, so a different group goes on lunch every 2 minutes. Seems to work well, no queues.

Even 40 mins is quite short by the time you go to the loo and if you queue up in the canteen. I hate short lunchtimes.

1.5 hours at my dc school, rural so lots of clubs at lunchtimes because most trav to school by bus etc . When weather nice also lots of time to loll on grass , play footie, rounders etc . I think they need a break

When I was at school we had two 20 minute breaks and a 10 minute break each day and finished school at 2:30 (started early). Was a bit of a shock coming up from junior school where we'd all had longer lunch breaks but we all adapted to it

Wow, that's awful! So bad for children's mental health, eating patterns and stress levels. Yes it might superficially leave no time for bullying, but instead it inculcates a really punishing culture of constant work without the expectation of any downtime. Not to mention that it hardly supports schools in encouraging healthy eating and preventing cultures of eating disorders springing up (have they thought about how it normalises not eating for older girls in particular?) Why can't schools get a proper grip on bullying without this (costs and other priorities, I should think.... )

I had 1hr in the 80s and 90s, and that was enough for all pupils in a school of approx. 1250 to have some lunch, have some down time, perhaps do a club or be at choir practice or a music lesson for 30 minutes; and it also enabled the school to offer the occasional off-timetable GCSE course if enough pupils demanded it (I took a Russian GCSE at lunchtime with a small group of interested pupils and the help of enthusiastic teachers who were willing to offer enrichment opportunities outside the timetable, even in what was a pretty bog standard comp). There wasn't much bullying, but then the school - despite not being very academically ambitious - was very hot on stamping out any suggestion of a bullying culture.

On another note, it strikes me that cutting lunches to just 30 minutes is actually very discriminatory to girls in particular - boys might make do with a quick wizz before grabbing some lunch, but imagine being a young girl getting used to having your periods and being faced with the choice of either eating or going to the loo to sort out your pad or tampon but not being comfortably able to do both? That is something that I am very surprised that a school has not thought about. Queues for the girls' loos are inevitably much longer than for boys and girls that age are often intensely anxious about pain and periods and potential embarrassment. What a way to make that worse, and increase the pressure on girls and making eating socially stressful - even more from what it already is. I teach in a HE environment and no wonder the students are arriving a mess of nerves and anxiety and eating problems these days

Not long enough imo

Train, more really good points for me to raise.

Dd1's eating can be very disordered when she's stressed - she hates the canteen as it is and avoids it. I can only think more children will simply stay away now .

And great point about girls getting the worst of it.

I really do feel so nostalgic now about my lunchtime choir practices etc. My dc don't do anything like that.

Yes, I really think it's irresponsible and discriminates against the girls. Boys don't have menstruation to deal with and can always use urinals rather than waiting for a cubicle, if the school has them.

When I was at secondary school all our loos were in the basement, and there was a great rush of girls for them from all parts of the school (in a 4-storey building block), at the start of lunchtime, plus huge queues. Imagine being 13 and getting your period, having to get to the loos, wait in a long queue, sort yourself out, clean up a bit, have a wee, wash hands - easily 15 minutes gone, no time for queuing for lunch - not really fair! The boys are out and grabbing their lunch already!

Most adults in the workplace can go to the loo when they need to, but school students can't easily, and many schools are really strict on this. I used to have to go to the loo at both the beginning and the end of the lunch hour so I didn't feel anxious that I'd need the loo during the afternoon - and there were always big queues again just before lessons started - if I had only had 30 minutes for lunch and had my period, I'd have spent it all waiting to go to the loo, going to the loo, then waiting to go to the loo again!!