Late lunch breaks?

[geminiflanagan]

Dd is year 6 so we've been doing some open days recently. Of the ones who have made the timetable available, the lunch breaks seem to be incredibly late! The most recent one we visited doesn't start lunch until 1.45pm, and it isn't the only one. The other two were 1.30pm.

I mentioned this to the teacher showing us around, and she said most kids eat a substantial snack during their 20 minute morning break which is at 11.

Is this usual across all secondaries? Dd currently has porridge for breakfast, is allowed a piece of fruit as a mid morning snack, and then they do lunch 12.15-1.15 at primary and I know she is hungry come lunchtime time. It is going to take her some adjustment to shift lunch forward by an hour & half!

Yes one school had only 1 lesson after lunch.
Its not great for sen kids.

Normal. Every secondary I know of does two lessons then break, two more lessons than lunch, then form and final lesson. The one that starts lunch at 1.45 presumably has morning tutorial and only one lesson after lunch?

It’ll take a few weeks, but they’ll get used to it.

Same for my dd. Lunch finishes at 13:50, and they finish school at 14:50!
Couldn't believe it when we went to the open morning - children walking around with bacon sandwiches and waffles from the canteen at 11am!
When they are up and have breakfast early to catch the bus, they are almost forced to have a mid morning snack to get them through. Not a habit I really wanted my daughter to get into really.

Ds school has 2 lessons then break at 11.10 (free toast and a range of other snacks to purchase) then two more lessons and dinner at 1.25 before one more lesson.

for ds (who is autistic) it works brilliantly as it breaks the day up nicely.

Yep. Ours rotates so once every 5 weeks they have the latest slot which is 1.45 and only really lasts about 15mins.

Dd takes crisps and cereal bars in her bag which she has at break times if she's hungry

That seems really late - DN school starts at 8:30, 2 lessons then break, 2 lessons then lunch at 12:45-1:45 then 2 more lessons.

As an adult I’d be fully hangry by 1:45 as I don’t tend to snack much and wouldn’t want much at an 11am break.

That's changed since I was at school! Lunch was around 12:30!

It's surprisingly common where schools have vastly shortened their lunch breaks and now different year groups on lunch at different times.
I've not applied to some schools because of it. I don't want my breaks and lunches at odd times each day.

I'd hate it for my DC too.

My dc's secondary when they started had lunch at 1:30-2:00 and I thought how late and short.
The dc very quickly got used to it. However what I hadn't realised is that they also had a half hour break, during which all the food options barring one were also open, at 11-11:30. So some, like ds, would choose to have his lunch at 11, others (dd1 and dd2) would prefer it at 1:30.

Since Covid they've split the lunch times to have it at different times for different years to a certain extent though.

Interesting to read the responses! The school we are likely to.put as first choice is 13.35, and lunch is an hour break. Then they have 1 lesson afterwards and finish at 3.30.

And I agree, I'd be starving by that point - I wouldn't want to eat a massive snack at 10.30/11 (the girl on the tour said she normally has a couple of slices of pizza or a sandwich); it just seems bizarre to force a big mid morning snack in a short break to see them through to such a late lunch. It seems ripe for leading the way to disordered eating

Oh and they all go on break together. Relatively small school - c. 900 pupils, so no staggering/rotating of times

Yep same here. They have break at 11 and then lunch is 1.35 (30 mins) then 1 final lesson before finishing at 3.05. Lots of kids have a substantial snack at break such a chicken wrap as not always enough time at lunch. Then eat as soon as they come home.

My son's school I'd like this, 30min break at 11 then 30 min lunch later. The canteen serves the same food during these two breaks and you can eat your packed lunch during each of them. Most kids treat the 11 am break as lunch.

Yes DD can eat at 11am or 1:30pm. She just spreads her lunch out across the 2 breaks, doesn’t eat more overall. I wondered how she’d find it but she doesn’t mind at all.

Ours do two lessons and form, then a break, two lessons then lunch then one lesson.
It's been like this since covid (used to have Lunches split into two, now its 3 -7 year groups in total). Dc1 and 2 had no problems dc3 hated it at first till she realised she needed slightly more for breakfast and then a snack. They honestly get used to it very quickly.

Pre covid now my DD's school always did lunch 1:15-1:55 followed by 1 final lesson.

Also normal.

A piece of fruit isn't enough for morning break with growing children.

Do the obsessing about healthy food at another moment.

I did wonder why this had changed since i was at school and hadnt realised it was a thing in nearly all schools until i read this post. I thought it was because those that make a run for it and skip lessons are more likely to do so after lunch and therefore only miss one lesson.

In my secondary year 7-9 would have a 12pm-1pm dinner, but wasn’t allowed in the canteen for food at break. They could bring stuff in obviously but no hot food.
Years 10 & 11 could go in at break and get breakfast type food like toast, bacon etc and had dinner 1-2pm and then only 1 lesson after dinner.

Time tabling might be easier having 4x lessons before lunch and 1x lesson afterwards. Gives more slots for doubles.

They tend not to have breakfast in my experience so 11am pizza at least compensates. In some places junior years have earlier lunch. Either way the secondary years involve huge postschool snacks and often they barely eat in school.

My DS takes a packed lunch, I think he eats some at break time and some at lunchtime. I'm not going to get all controlling about it, he's at secondary school and is old enough to a) eat something when he needs to and b) let me know if he needs more in his lunchbox.

Primary school rules, thanks very much.

DDs school has different lunch breaks depending on year. Only two year groups in the cafeteria at once. Yr 7 &9 is first break at 12.15, Yr8 and yr10 is 1.15. Yr11 have their own common room.

School finishes at 2.45 but there is extra curricular until 4pm.

We have a rolling lunch so different times every day. When I have 1.40 lunch I am ready to eat my own arm. I don't snack at work so it's a long time from 6.30am breakfast!