secondary school with no locker facilities

[Storminateacup74]

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

So do they give all the students time between each lesson to walk to their locker to put away and pick up the books they need?

Same no bags rule here as well (the school was built with a much smaller number of students in mind and there is no room in the corridors!). It works ok. They put planners and pencil cases and blazer pockets and carry the books for 2 lessons at a time (and of course the teacher might have the books) returning to lockers at break and lunch to swap books. I imagine it makes classrooms a much less crowded place as well (having read how much some DC carry round on here!)

Ours had lockers in their form room or nearby. Theyd just pick up next lot of stuff at lunch or break. So only needing 2 lessons (if hour long) at most at a time and some subjects keep text books .

I cant imagine my classes coming in with all their stuff for the whole day and a pe kit and a coat. Wouldn't feel right at all!

Does it work well? Are students able to be on time even if their locker is a long walk from some of their classrooms? Do some of the newer students struggle to be organised and remember the right books?

I think an alternative to dragging your own bodyweight in books is good I'm just curious how it works.

It works fine here. They soon get used to it. The lockers are all near communal spaces where they would tend to go for morning/break/lunch/after school anyway though we do get moans about the odd day where there is particularly lots of walking (and DD's tutor room this year is about as far away from anywhere as you can get).

DD has a folder with 6 compartments and keeps most of her books at home, so she organises her books in the morning by lesson and just takes out the ones she needs as she goes through the day. DS keeps most of his books in a jumble in his locker and still seems to cope (actually he quite often has nothing at all in his bag apart from his lunch).

We have bag racks instead of lockers (it is extremely rare that anything gets stolen (once or twice a year max)).

I'm guessing it's a well laid out school. At my school there were lockers in the most obscure parts of the buildings and it was random allocation so no guarantee of getting one near your form room for example.

It's not that uncommon. Many schools are spread over different blocks and levels so having your locker down one end of the building when your lessons are dotted all over the place is not that helpful.

I suppose you learn to pack economically. A lightweight coat and a good sized rucksack will help.

DS jas just gone up to secondary with no lockers. No one wears a coat as you cant have them in the building so have to put them in your bag ot leave them at 'student services' and remeber to get them at the end of the day. They dont seem to have text books or exercise books like we used to ot if they do they stay in school. The only time his bag is full is when be tales PE kit but thats because of his massive size 10 trainers!