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?

What's the structure at their primary?

I had to check and it's 1,5 hrs long session usually split into 2 "lessons". But I feel in primary they move around even during the lessons, not just sit on their bums for the whole duration.

you feel

I think you may be surprised by what actually happens.

All this fear over something that you don't know the facts about.

At my child's school lessons are 1hr 15. There is one break and lunch so the longest they have without a break is 2 hours 30. It's usually a different lesson for each period so even if there's no break, they do have to change rooms, but occasionally it's the same lesson so they go straight through for 2 hrs 30.

I'm worried it's unhealthy to sit still for 1:40-2hrs.
Not good for back, not good for eyes etc.

Where is making them sit for 2 hours?

Period 1 and period 2 will be different lessons in different rooms. They will walk between them.

But they will change lesson, and have a walk between them, in between those lessons, in the middle.

Because I can see no "break" between p1 and p2. As everything in schools is very strict I understand it as literally p2 starts the same second p1 finishes.

The children aren't teleporting between rooms though, they will be walking to the next room, so there is a natural break in between periods.

Yes but the kids change rooms.

They walk from one to the other. This is normal here.

Exactly. Bell goes for end of P1, walk to P2. Find seat, start P2. Bear in mind that public exams can be 1.5-2 hours long though so they do need to learn sit still for longish periods of time by then. My university exams were three hours long.

That's why I started this thread. I started thinking maybe there's smth wrong with the schools I'm looking at.

In theory the lessons are 9-10, then 10-11 etc
In practice its 9.03-9.58, then 10.03-10.58 etc

The only double lessons in y7/8 will probably be art/DT/Food Tech and PE.
Double lessons for subjects like maths and English probably won’t be until sixth form.

There's nothing wrong with the schools you're looking at, that's what people are explaining to you. This is normal. You walk between classrooms at the end of each period. Even if the lesson times are given as 10 to 11, then 11 to 12, the children aren't teleporting, so in actuality, they will be walking between rooms at 10.58 and arriving at 11:02 or whatever.

Because I can see no "break" between p1 and p2. As everything in schools is very strict I understand it as literally p2 starts the same second p1 finishes.

The children leave period 1 and the teacher for period 2 understands that it takes a few minutes for the children to arrive at their lesson. If lesson 1 ends at 10.20, then realistically kids won't be at lesson two for a few minutes whilst they travel between classrooms.

Occasionally at our school, it is the same lesson in the same room for 2 periods, but teachers will they know how to manage children and mix the lesson up to keep them interested.

Most secondary schools I know of follow a 5 periods x 60 minute format or a 6 periods x 50 minute format.

So dds' school follows the latter and do P1, P2, tutor time, break time, P3, P4, lunch, P5, P6.

They have some double periods from Y7, like for PE and DT (and lots in KS4 as they have less subjects overall) which will be 1h40 mins, but they often get a little break in the middle.

I think it's better than lots of shorter lessons tbh!

That's what a timetable looks like at my school, P1 finishing and P2 starting instantly. Actually we allow 5 minutes 'travel time' between lessons before a kid would be marked as late. We don't actually timetable the travel time though otherwise they'd use it as a 5 minute break and if they only have to move down the corridor we want them going straight to their next lesson, not hanging around for 5 minutes.

My DS is at a United Learning school and lessons are 100 minutes each, 3 lessons a day. He has adhd and does struggle.

Yes, they move from one place to another. They move upstairs and downstairs. They move from one block to another. If it’s a split site, they may even be walking between one site and another.

Lessons are not sitting still for the duration. They won’t be sitting writing or looking at the electronic board the whole time. They may be moving into groups, moving back, working in pairs, or any number of different activities that require movement of some sort.

Teachers gauge the pace of the lesson and change activities to maximise engagement and that will be what is planned for each lesson. Of course they’d get fidgety if every lesson was simply sitting and writing or reading, but there will be discussion, as well as the different things I’ve stated.

Yep. Another one to say this is perfectly normal.

Are you generally an anxious person? This seems a very extreme response.

Schools that have split sites may well have double/longer lessons for every subject e.g. one of the schools local to here has lessons that last 1 hour and 45 minutes. It's a popular school and I've never been aware that lesson length is something people complain about. Three lessons a day means fewer books to lug around each day which is good given the lack of lockers these days.

Hi OP,
You may choose which ever school you prefer. However you may not tell a school you have picked to change the way they run their school, obviously, so I would say pick very carefully.
Something to watch out as well is that schools make changes to how they run things all the time, so you may pick a school with shorter lessons and they may decide to change to longer ones.

I'm a teacher - we often give a little chat break in the middle of a double, can depend on the class. I have a small bladder even when not pregnant (as currently) and I can easily hold it for 1h40. So can the kids but that's what toilet passes are for if not. Lessons aren't the same as university lectures, they're already broken up by group work and talking tasks, independent work, a quick chat while the teacher is handing out sheets and everyone is gluing in. They go way faster than you think.

Add to that what other posters mentioned about the walk between lessons. If lessons were shorter than 50 minutes we'd struggle to get much meaningful done! Maybe if we weren't monitoring and giving feedback and just doing the old-fashioned 'do these pages from the textbook'.

Edit: just to add, we sometimes incorporate game based learning activities. Children we think need movement breaks will be asked to do a little job eg hand out sheets or go grab something unnecessary from the other side of the room for me. Genuinely it's not a problem and I think secondary children get plenty of movement walking all over the school site in between lessons.

Mine is in United Learning primary now and we have UL secondary. For some reason it's the only secondary that doesn't show timetable on their site.
Does it mean that each subject is taught for 1:40?