Lesson lenghth (London, Y7-8)

[WonderingAR]

In my day and a different country school lessons were 45 min long for everyone.

Now I hear on a school tour it's 75 minutes (1hr 15 min), then read about Harris secondary and it's 100 minutes (1hr 40min)! Is there no official limit on lesson duration at all?

Looked up another school - it's 2hrs without a break.

1:40 without a break

There's a break, it's split into two periods. Usually that means the children do a different subject in a different room from one period to the next. Exception to that might be PE to allow more time for changing, and for science or other practical subjects to allow enough time for practical experiments or activities.

No. What are you worried about? One hour periods here. Doubles are two hours for PE, DT and science. Same when I was in school.

Those lessons are 50 minutes long. If they're single lessons they will have a break by walking to the next lesson. Doubles are for practical subjects - Science, DT, Home Ec etc

Schools arrange the lesson times that suit their timetable, staffing, the physical building and the needs of the curriculum. Practical subjects would need longer than a 45 minute lesson, which is why they might have a double lesson for those.

What’s the issue with 1:40 without a break?

This is what DS's school does.
DD's school also does similar, but starts and finishes 30 mins later.

Why does school end so early these days?

I think finishing at 3.20 like we did in my school days (90s) but having a whole hour for lunch is much preferable

I'm simply terrified. No time to stretch your legs or go to the loo in a break time.
Even lectures in university had a short break after I believe 45 minutes.

Terrified? Those lesson lengths are completely normal

???P1/P2/P3 etc are separate lessons of 1 hour each not 2 hour lessons eg P1 French, P2 Maths, P3 History. Lessons when I was at school were 40 mins long. 2 periods then a 30 minute break, 3 periods then lunch, then 3 periods. So 2 hours without a break… Sometimes we had double periods of 80 minutes for subjects that needed more time eg sciences to allow time for experiments and PE.

Did you really have 45 minute lessons with a break after every lesson?!!

No one needs to go to the loo every hour unless they're drinking an enormous quantity of water.

It's quite normal to be able to concentrate for up to two hours, but what you're showing there are 2 periods, so unless it's something like textiles or another practical subject they are likely to be getting up and stretching their legs to move from one classroom to another.

I understand wishing they had longer for lunch - the loss of lunchtime clubs seems a real shame to me. But I might be more focused on this because I went to a rural school so lunchtime clubs were important as the majority of children had to get a bus home.

You are terrified of lessons longer than 45 minutes?

I can't believe this is serious.

‘Terrified’ seems quite a strong reaction! I imagine even within a 1-hour lesson it’ll be broken up into different activities/learning styles - they won’t just be sitting there staring at a blackboard for the whole time.

Yes we did really, and we didn't have labs before university. Sometimes we had double lessons like in French or English but with the same official break I believe not less then 10 min between them.

Terrified.

They'll likely be doing 2 hours in primary without a break.

Because if lunch is shorter then you can pay less for lunchtime staff and if school finishes earlier then that saves on heating and lighting.

There are also fewer behaviour problems to deal with at lunchtime because the kids only really have time to eat.

Terrified?!? You need to get a grip.

My DD has 100 minute lessons. It works well. Only 3 subjects a day and plenty of time to get settled and learn something. It also means homework is easier to manage.
I used to have 6-8 lessons a day and have to carry a really heavy bag through miles of corridor all week. Dds timetable sounds a lot more manageable.

100 minutes at the school I work in, we aren't Harris. Last place I worked in was an Ark school their lessons were about the same.
I don't think any children have ever complained, they do sometimes misuse the word "long" which in kid speak means dull I think. They also say the lessons are "dead" which means the same.
Parents and sometimes other people who don't work in schools sometimes seem upset by lesson length.
The toilet thing is also never raised by our children and frequently raised by people who don't work at school. My headteacher spent hours monitoring this issue and found that the children who wanted to go to the toilet in lessons went in every lesson and frequently did not return to class promptly after leaving the toilets.
We have a tiny number of students with medical passes to use the toilet in lessons. We insist on actual medical opinions from qualified medical professionals that a condition exists, our insistence also upsets parents for some reason.

Well I did not expect it at all and it will definitely worry me until my DC actually starts secondary.

By the time everyone's settled into their seat, taken register etc it's just not that long.

What exactly are you worried about? That your kid will misbehave?

It’s really, really usual. One mid morning break, one lunchtime break. My children haven’t had a mid afternoon break since the end of year 2 (age 7!).

They quickly get used to it.
There’s evidence to suggest this improves their knowledge and understanding. Lessons are chunked into different activities. Granted this is most likely beneficial when child isn’t SEN or immature.

1hr at DDs school. Either 2-2-1 or 2-1-2 depending on school year.