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Secondary education

Connect with other parents whose children are starting secondary school on this forum.

Original poster

secondary school with no locker facilities

60 replies

Storminateacup74 · 08/10/2018 16:58

We are currently doing the rounds for open evenings/mornings. My son is in year 6 and the secondary school that my other child attends, we do not feel is right for my son, so we are looking at another local secondary academy. It has a very different feel and ethos that would suit my autistic son but the one thing which I find odd is that they don't have any lockers so everything has to be carried around with them all day including wet coats. He is lucky and his primary has lockers so he has been used to going in in the morning and putting his lunch and coat in his locker. My DD and DN's school in a neighbouring town all have the option of hiring a locker. Is it normal for some schools not to have lockers - I just presumed they all offered them. Thanks

OP posts:
RowenaDedalus · 08/10/2018 17:00

I would say it’s pretty normal not to have lockers. I don’t know many secondaries in the area that have them.

RossPoldarkfan · 08/10/2018 17:03

I thought it was usual not to have lockers. My children never had lockers though different areas may provide them.

Endofthelinefinally · 08/10/2018 17:03

We had this problem and TBH it was a complete nightmare.
So much stuff got stolen and my child had really bad backache from having to lug so many heavy bags around up and down stairs all day.
E.g. musical instrument, PE kit, homework, all books for lessons, food tech stuff, lunch, water bottle. It was beyond ridiculous.

YoureAllABunchOfBastards · 08/10/2018 17:03

We don't have lockers as we simply don't have the space. I really feel for the kids

Sugarhunnyicedtea · 08/10/2018 17:04

There are lockers at my son's school. Nobody uses them, they'd rather carry everything with them as if they don't remember to get everything out for the day they waste their break and lunch getting equipment from the locker

itbemay · 08/10/2018 17:05

No lockers at my sons school either.

clary · 08/10/2018 17:05

Lots of schools don't have lockers. I wouldn't make it a, deal breaker. Mine have always managed fine with books, PE kit, trumpet etc and no locker.

AdventuringThroughLife · 08/10/2018 17:06

Wow i thought locker areas/cloakrooms were the norm.

Where do you put a musical instrument /pe kit and cookery project... never mind gcse text books?!

Surely they dont leave coats in class....

clary · 08/10/2018 17:07

Yy to it being a pain wasting time at break fetching stuff from the other side of school. Drop things off (cooking, musical instrument) at start of day if no locker - not an issue.

AdventuringThroughLife · 08/10/2018 17:07

Do they take a rucksack around with them then? Isnt that bulky/messy?

clary · 08/10/2018 17:09

Hahahaha at GCSE text books!!! I had enough for one between two and needed them for several classes. What school supplies text books today?

user1494670108 · 08/10/2018 17:09

Dd doesn't have a locker, tbh it's not been an issue. She rarely takes a coat and when she played an instrument it could be put in the music room first thing. She's a bit laden on PE day but copes just fine

clary · 08/10/2018 17:10

Yes rucksack, not messy no (why?). Heavy but not impossible. In a big school your locker might be 10 mins walk away anyway.

Endofthelinefinally · 08/10/2018 17:11

We had to buy text books. State school.
Even more annoying when they got stolen.

Original poster
Storminateacup74 · 08/10/2018 17:13

Thanks. Seems some do and some don't then. I just presumed having lockers was the norm. We really like the school and don't really want to disregard it because there is no lockers just don't know how he will cope lugging all his stuff round all day.

OP posts:
EggysMom · 08/10/2018 17:14

I'm gonna do the old "Back in my day ..." Grin No lockers when I was at secondary school, no computers or tablets either. We needed to have our coats with us, we had to walk round the school campus between lessons and it was quite spread out. And we carried all folders and textbooks with us from lesson to lesson. Then there was also the PE kit once a week .... And we survived Grin

AdventuringThroughLife · 08/10/2018 17:14

The secondary I taught at they weren't allowed to take rucksacks around with them - bulky in the corridor/could knock other students and by messy I meant in the way in the classroom - it was a school rule they had to be in cloackrooms/lockers hence my question!

Text books- a mix of supplied books and books they've bought.

ifoundthebread · 08/10/2018 17:15

When I was at secondary (02-07) we didn't have lockers, we used back packs/ruck sacks for our text books, then if we wanted we could take our pe kit in a separate bag and leave it in our form room until needed. But apart from that it was pretty hassle free, alot us used the football boot bags - could fit a few books in, planner, pencil case, 20 tabs, bits and pieces. Never had a need for a locker.

AdventuringThroughLife · 08/10/2018 17:15

We certainly weren't allowed to take coats around the school!!

JamAtkins · 08/10/2018 17:18

Our secondary doesn’t have lockers but instruments can be left in the instrument store and cookery stuff in the cookery room at the start of the day.

bellinisurge · 08/10/2018 17:18

My dd (Y7) has one but plenty of others locally don't have them.

OrangeOrBlackcurrant · 08/10/2018 17:19

Dds school have just introduced lockers. Bloody nightmare. Half of them randomly lock. The kids shove their sandwiches etc in their blazer pockets because they can't be bothered to go back to their lockers to get them at break. They have been given flimsy crappy book bag style bags to use for their school books during the school day that keep splitting. Oh and the school want us to pay £20 a year for them. It has not been a success.

malmontar · 08/10/2018 17:36

I’ve only ever been to one school with lockers and no one ever used them. £5 deposit for a lock but they just don’t need them. Kids can leave pe kits in form rooms or just take them with. I didn’t have them and I certainly don’t remember it being a problem, even when I was on the school sports teams and did GCSE art. The school always provided text books and they stayed in class. Sometimes you needed exercise books for homework and I would forget to bring them back so avoided taking them.
I only remember a brief moment when I played the trumpet, did my sports and had art and I would leave my trumpet in the music dept or drop everything with my tutor until needed. This was about 10 years ago.
But I really had to think about remembering this, it really wasn’t a big deal.

AdventuringThroughLife · 08/10/2018 17:40

Presumably this explains why one local school has them in blazers and no coats ..!

mostdays · 08/10/2018 18:23

There are no lockers at ds1's school. Ds1 thinks this is dreadful.

There were lockers when I was at secondary but tbh they were impractical to use. There was no time to go to them between lessons. Depending on where your previous lesson/ locker/ next lesson was, there was very rarely time to go to the during break. And at dinner time we were not allowed in the areas where the lockers were. Basically you could access them in the 10 minutes before registration and for about 10 minutes after the final bell at the end of the day, which was of use to no one.