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!

My school in 80's had lunch at 1.10 for 45 mins. It's not a new phenomenon

My kids always took packed lunches and ate them whenever they wanted. Same food but up to them

I’ve worked in senior management at a number of secondary schools and it’s often due to either:
lack of capacity in the canteen so need to push later and later into the afternoon to take waves of different sittings,
2 x shorter breaks giving less chance for poor behaviour than an hour at lunch (no time for big fights on the school field if the kids are busy queuing for food then trying to shovel it down before next lesson),
The notion that students learn better in the morning so making lunch later to put more lessons in the ‘morning’ - equating ‘before lunch’ with ‘morning’.
I’ve never heard the shorter and later lunch that more and more secondaries are adopting as being healthier for the children. Always due to lack of resources with a pinch of ridiculousness.

My children have got used to it, but that doesn’t make it the best thing for them. Their school lunch is 30 mins at 1.30. It’s actually in the middle of a lesson.

I don't think this is new, 20/25 years ago my secondary did similar, form from 8.40-9, 2 lessons, break 11-11.20, 2 more lessons, lunch 1.20-2, one more lesson than home (although 6th form sometimes had 6th period 3-4). I don't remember us necessarily having an enormous snack, school sold sausage rolls, sometimes pizza, bread rolls, fruit, cookies/flapjack, fruit etc and we might get one, we might not. We got used to it pretty quickly and I don't remember ever feeling ravenous before lunch!

I don't think that is too late, I think 1.10 is a normal lunchtime. But 1.45pm is definitely late!

I think the thing to remember is that whichever school you choose and whatever time they eat, they will get used to it.

‘Little and often’ is arguably a healthier way to eat than three large meals a day, so it’s probably best to thing about what you can send in for morning break rather than worrying about it.

One of my DSes gets toast from the canteen at break; the other eats crackers I’ve sent him in with. Neither complain about hunger (now that they’re used to it)

It's important to remember that this isn't primary school and won't gave the same routines. Morning break let's them have a piece of fruit. In secondary the canteen is open and they can purchase a snack or meal, the same thing happens at lunch. Breaks and lunches are shorter and the children soon regulate what they can eat and adjust. You carnt choose a school based on lunchtime. My child is in year 11 and the timings for lunch and break has altered 4 times since they started.

This isn't primary so the whole just a piece of fruit thing goes out the window.

There are a lot of options at break for them to purchase hot food, toast, toasted baguettes, bacon butties, waffles etc as well as cold stuff like yoghurts and fruit. Some use this as a more filling option and then have a snack at lunch time.

DC's school has lunch break from 12.50pm-2pm but that is split into 25 minutes tutor time and 35 minutes lunch - so half the school doesn't have lunch until 1.25pm.

The reasons are to reduce overcrowding across lunch time, and to enable the school day to finish earlier (by making lunch time shorter), which reduces costs.

I agree that the DC just adapt pretty quickly. Mine go through phases of not eating at all at school. Or having lunch at break time. I certainly wouldn't make it a contributing factor in school choice.

Yes it's normal. My ds left secondary in 2020 and it existed then.

Worked well for him as he's a swimmer and up at 4am!!! Decent snack at 11am and good lunch at 1.30pm.

He finished at 3.15 and swam again at 5pm.

But other than the fact it did work out well for ds I thought it a really odd set up to have a 20 minute and then 30 minute break.

But I'm not sure it works any worse than 10/15 minutes and then 45/60 minutes which is what use to happen before the change. It does make the day shorter if nothing else!

Pretty normal. Dc1 & 2's secondary lunch is 1:40-2:20. They have lots of lunch clubs so it's quite normal for them (school population as a whole) to have 'lunch' at break then a snack during lunchtime. Dc1 doesn't eat breakfast, dc2 does. It's a routine they adapt to very quickly.

At our primary lunch is 12:30-1:30, with dc3/y6 not eating until 1:15/1:20, now that is a long time between breakfast & lunch with only 1 piece of fruit allowed at 11am (that's if the child has eaten breakfast at all, because not all of them will).

I worked in a secondary for many years.

It's fairly normal. As an adult it takes me a while to adjust, and I do need more than a piece of fruit at morning break.

I'd normally have a snack at 11 which was our morning break and a similar sized "lunch" at 1:30 (lunchtime)

Since covid lunchtime has got shorter as well (too much bad behaviour - the shorter the lunchtime the fewer fights)

You get used to it. The school I teach in has a 1.30 lunch. Most of the kids eat at first break which is at 11.30. Some will eat a quick cereal bar or suchlike while walking between one lesson and the next. . It makes the afternoon nice and short.

It does make the afternoon go really quick!
Sometimes at work my lunch isn't scheduled until 2pm but the afternoon flies past

Eating sandwiches at break and/or getting a second breakfast at the canteen before school are common. Kids get by, is all I can say.

I have another child at a school with a more normal lunchtime and it seems much nicer.

The difference seems to flow from whether the school wants to do 5x 1 hour lessons or 4x longer lessons in a day. The latter tends to push lunch break very late.

DC has just started Y7. They have a 20 min break around 11:30, when most of them tend to eat their lunch anyway. Then a longer break at 13:30ish where they can go do clubs. Only two periods after lunch.
I figure it is better to have the majority of lessons in the morning, and not be affected by the post-lunch slump!