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abwsco

Question for teachers

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I'm sure that can't be right. A couple of questions though:

How old is your daughter?

What time does school start and finish?

 

I'm wondering if it's working on a continental school day perhaps finishing at 1pm. :? Neither am I an employed teacher, so I'm not certain of the actual rules, but if she's under 16 and the school has a 'normal' timetable, I'd say there is something wrong.

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She's in year 13 - so A levels. School day is 8.40am to 3.05pm. She has frees on some days but today she's had one free then one lesson, short break then three lessons including working over lunch to school finish. Next week she's got three days working over the lunchtime :? The timetable is on a Week A then Week B then Week A, Week B etc just to confuse as well.

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My daughter is in year 13 too and works on a two week timetable. I know some schools stagger lunch-breaks and it sounds to me as if your daughter has been a victim of the time-tabling because of the subjects she has chosen.

 

I would contact the school to ask for advice. Maybe in year 13, some teachers won't mind her munching during a lesson, especially if she's a special case.

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Sounds like she has been the victim of some timetabling problems - I have taught sixth form classes during lunch and after school - as a teacher the time is made up to us elsewhere. I always let the kids eat in my class if they were there at lunchtime.

 

This will have happend as it would have been the only way to fit the classes in.

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Thanks everyone. She didn't ask the teacher who had her for a double lesson starting at lunch time today if he'd managed to get any lunch but I'm sure she will on Monday as it's the same then. It wouldn't be so bad if the canteen was open during the five minutes in which she's supposed to get some lunch and move classrooms, but that's the unorganised school for you :roll: She won't take a packed much! They had no planners at all last year as they couldn't afford to provide them and wouldn't let the pupils buy one. They have them this year but then the Head of Sixth told them it's because Ofsted are due in.

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As a head of VI form myself, this sounds ridiculous. Legally, all students are entitled to an opportunity to eat - and I would say it is unreasonable to expect this to be done in 5 minutes.

 

It may be the school are assuming she will eat in her free periods - however, I would've thought the rules would be similar to working conditions i.e. one break of at least 15 minutes in a 4 hour period (or something like that).

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One Friday her free is 9.00am to 10.00am then 4 lessons which run over the lunch and then on the other days she has her frees until 11.15am so she's going to have to go to the shop to get something for lunch as the canteen isn't open. I do realise it must be a nightmare to do the timetabling though.

 

The problem imo is that the sixth form is added on to the school with the same teachers who teach years 7 to 11 and they always get priority over the 6th form students. She's only been back since Monday and already had one lesson where the classroom was in use by another class and after 30 minutes of them trying to find a classroom the teacher just gave up. They were even sent to a room which doesn't exist! A great start :roll:

 

My comments on the Ofsted form will be interesting.

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How many kids are in some of these classes? This is usually the problem - in order to get a sixth form going schools will keep classes going with VERY small numbers - obviously not cost effective and then they have to squeeze them in with existing teachers as there isn't the money to employ more. Colleges would just s"Ooops, word censored!" the courses and tell the kids they have to do something else. I@ve taught classes with 3 kids - my friend did an entire 2 year course for 3 kids. A couple of years ago I covered a music AS class with just 1 kid in!

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How many kids are in some of these classes? This is usually the problem - in order to get a sixth form going schools will keep classes going with VERY small numbers - obviously not cost effective and then they have to squeeze them in with existing teachers as there isn't the money to employ more. Colleges would just s"Ooops, word censored!" the courses and tell the kids they have to do something else. I@ve taught classes with 3 kids - my friend did an entire 2 year course for 3 kids. A couple of years ago I covered a music AS class with just 1 kid in!

 

OMG, 1 child in a class. DD tells me there are eight in one and nine in another. Thing is they're Economics and Business Studies so not wierd and wonderful ones -lol At least she's a free today just before lunch so can get something to eat then.

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We sadly have lunchtime and twilight lessons for 6th form at my place too. The room I register my little yr 7s in has lunchtime IB maths 3 days a week - we wait for them to finish (always late!) and then we come in and register for 20 mins, then I log-off, the maths teacher reappears and we swap over again! All is well unless I touch the whiteboard! They do bring sandwiches and snacks to the lesson though and have them as they go along. I think it is a combination of part time teachers and a full timetable. I do feel sorry for the students though. Hope your daughter gets to grips with it!

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My son is in Y13 too. His school's 6th form runs a Consortium with two other schools in the borough in order to offer a greater choice of AS/A levels. It means that some students are travelling back and forth between the schools for their various lessons. He thought that he was going to have to do 4 twilights a week this year. Thankfully they seem to have rearranged the groups so he wont have to do that now.

It sounds like your daughter's school doesnt know how to use the timetabling module in their Management Information System.....!

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