Shorter breaks at school (From The Wiltshire Gazette and Herald)

Shorter breaks at school

12:21pm Friday 25th January 2013 in News

Pupils and staff at Devizes School will have a shorter lunch break as a trial run.

The 50-minute break will be cut to 30 minutes, meaning the school day will finish 20 minutes earlier at 2.40pm.

The trial period will take place during the week of February 4.

Assistant head teacher Barbara Smart said: “A 50-minute lunch break is not an efficient use of students’ time. Our caterers say that everybody has finished lunch within 30 minutes and often students are wandering around listlessly.

“When I am on duty at lunchtime by about 12.50pm (20 minutes into the lunch break), students are sitting around chatting.”

Mrs Smart said a shorter lunch break was an idea the senior management team had considered for some time and, from her experience teaching in London, a shorter lunch break is common.

The school has set up a student blog for pupils to give their views and parents will be asked their views at a meeting on February 21.

Mrs Smart said so far she had received no concerns from staff.

She said: “We are definitely not saying this is going to happen permanently. It does depend on the feedback we receive and, genuinely, if students and parents think it’s not the right thing to do, we won’t do it.

“I do understand there are implications for students finishing early, especially with young students and parents requiring childcare.”