A typical day at your school

[Dazzle]

Sometime in the future I plan to do some sort of I.T work for a school but last night I was wondering how much schools have changed over the years. It has been almost 16 years since I even set foot inside a school so I thought i'd ask you all the following question. What would be a typical day at your school? I assume there are still assemblies in the mornings, what sort of stuff goes on in them these days? When I was at school we used to have to sing and I hated it, I think that was the worse part of the day for me. Also how are the days worked out like lesson wise? If I can remember correctly we had 5 1 hour lessons each day with a break in the morning and a 45 minute lunch. Lets see what your days are like, you don't have to go into too much detail but it would be nice to hear what school days are like nowadays Edited January 31, 2012 by Dazzle

[hit]

a break in the morning and a 45 minute lunch.

 

Hahahahahahaha!

 

Break = the bit of the day between going to bed and getting up in the morning!

Lunch = Running down the corridor towards the SLT with a sandwich hanging out of the corner of my mouth!

 

Fortunately, the schools I work for dont have much in the way of assemblies but there is a lot of AV kit involved in the school halls for all kinds of events.

 

Most days are still 5 x 1 hour or 6 x 50 minute periods though.

[rad]

6 x 50 minute lessons Tue to Fri, 7 on Monday. Break time = ICT fixing time, Lunch time = ICT lunch club...

[witch]

5 x 50 minute lessons with a 15 min break after the second one and a 55 minute lunch in one school

Similar in the other but break is after lesson 1 and lunch is an hour.

No standard assemblies 'first thing' in either school. One has a 'celebration assembly' on a friday pm and some other assemblies scattered about the timetable, and the other has assemblies in 'tutor time' after lunch and before lessons - but not every day and not for the whole school.

One school never sings, the other one does when the local minister comes in. He is great and can often be found strumming 'Smoke on the Water' or Devil Woman (!) whilst waiting for the children!

[laserblazer]

I've lost the plot with our lesson times but we get a 15 mins break after L2 and 50 mins for lunch. Each Friday, a member of staff has to sing solo in assembly. It's my turn on the last day before the half term hols. I haven't decided what I'll sing but it will probably be Nessum Dorma again as the kids seem to like it.

[Soulfish]

We have 2 x 3hr periods a day with a 30 min tutor period between them. Lunch and break are staggered within the two periods due to having a small site. House assemblies are held Mon - Thurs during the tutor time in the middle of the day. We only have whole school assemblies at the end of term, and we can only fit them in because we're currently only two year groups big. No singing involved during our assemblies, but lots of AV equipment!

[jdoyle]

we have a rotating 2 week timetable.

 

A break at 10:40 each day for 15 minutes. Lunch break at 12:55 for 1 hour (no lunch break on Friday Week 2)

 

On Monday, we have a 30 minute Period 5 and a 60 minute Period 6. Other days, 60 minutes for Period 5, 30 minutes for Period 6 for tutor time and assemblies (which will either be a House or Year assembly).

 

P1 = 8:40 to 9:40

P2 = 9:40 to 10:40

Break 10:40 to 10:55

P3 = 10:55 to 11:55

P4 = 11:55 to 12:55

Lunch 12:55 to 13:55

P5 = 13:55 to 14:55 (except Monday)

P6 = 14:55 to 15:25 (except Monday)

 

No Period 6 on Friday Week 1.

No Period 5 or 6 on Friday Week 2 as school shuts for students at 12:55.

 

Simples.

Our School Day

[tomgrindle]

Hi,

 

We have 5 x 50 minute lessons. First one starts at 8:40. After the second lesson there is a 20 minute breaktime. We have what's called a rolling lunch. 4 x 35 minute lunches spread over 2hrs 25mins. At the end of the 5th lesson we have Registration/Tutor which is about 25mins and sometimes assemblies within this time, depending on Year Group etc.

 

After Tutor there is a small 10 minute break and depending on which day Homework Club (which is optional), or a 6th Period, or Enrichment classes. On a Friday school finishes straight after Tutor.

 

And there is a 2 Week rotating timetable.

[JonWPS]

Two week timetable,

 

AM Reg - 8:50 - 9.05

P1 - 9.05 - 10.05

P2 - 10.05 - 11.05

Break - 11.05 - 11.25

P3 - 11.25 - 12.25

P4 - 12.25 - 13.25

Lunch - 13.25 - 14.20 (includes PM Reg, though is split for KS3/KS4, so I haven't got my head round timings on that)

P5 - 14.20 - 15.20

 

Also, no singing in assemblies. I think that would be the end of me.

[mthomas08]

Sometime in the future I plan to do some sort of I.T work for a school

 

It's A TRAP!

 

Staff have to produce more reports, deal with more personal life issues of the students, parents care less, more IT reliant, expect projectors/laptops/printers/sytems working for everyone 24/7. All IT work takes 5 minutes to complete in the eyes of Staff. Abuse of IT equipment has gone up, its never their fault, students damage equipment because staff struggle to control classes.

 

Have I missed anything?

 

yes I am cynical - actually a realistic - it actually happens here..

[Earthling]

Sometime in the future I plan to do some sort of I.T work for a school

 

It's A TRAP!

 

Staff have to produce more reports, deal with more personal life issues of the students, parents care less, more IT reliant, expect projectors/laptops/printers/sytems working for everyone 24/7. All IT work takes 5 minutes to complete in the eyes of Staff. Abuse of IT equipment has gone up, its never their fault, students damage equipment because staff struggle to control classes.

 

Have I missed anything?

 

yes I am cynical - actually a realistic - it actually happens here..

 

^^ Exactly what he said, but with 5 minutes notice for everything.

[mthomas08]

@Earthling

 

You get 5 minutes notice?! Usually we get about 1 SECOND or "Done Yesterday".

[Earthling]

@Earthling

 

You get 5 minutes notice?! Usually we get about 1 SECOND or "Done Yesterday".

 

No. I was lying.

 

Edit: Actually, Friday morning, I got a panic call to set-up AV in a hall the other side of the school for an assembly. No call logged, no notice, nothing. As I was in the middle of building an image for a room full of new machines, I point-blank refused and didn't hear another word about it. Don't know (or care) if the assembly was held or not, with or without the AV. Made me realise that those things that are 'Really, Really Important' are only important in that member of staff's head, nowhere else.

Edited February 1, 2012 by Earthling

[sidewinder]

Each Friday, a member of staff has to sing solo in assembly.

 

That is unbelievably harsh! Or do the staff not mind?

[laserblazer]

Or do the staff not mind

 

The ones who can sing don't mind.

[Oaktech]

we *technically* get a 15 minute break at 11.05 and 30 minutes lunch anywhen between 12 and 2 to ensure continuous cover. In practice this translates to drinking coffee from a lidded mug whilst walking between jobs, followed by eating stuff between phonecalls sat at the desk!

[silver_uk]

MTHOMAS08 has it exactly right, we do nothing except sit in the office…

Schools have changed into small businesses, you have a limited budget that will not last a year and with that you need to do magic, not to mention the crystal ball that’s required to know when something is no longer working ‘and they need it now’

 

Good fun though – Play nice and they will pay you in chocolate biscuits…

[Garacesh]

I haven't worked in a school too long.. What I've learnt so far is the lesson timetable means sweet f-all. Everything goes wrong all of the time. You thank that toe-rag on the third floor is thinking "I'll wait until after lunch to unplug all of these machines."? Nuh-uh!

 

It also seems everybody is too reliant on the techies. Had a guy legitimately try to plug a keyboard back in. Stuck it in the mouse slot (yes, we still have some PS/2 keyboards lay around here-and-there).. They're colour coded, HOW do you get it wrong? It seems a lot of people don't have much basic knowledge anymore. Sure, when we're dealing with a ceiling-mounted projector it may sound a bit daunting for people and they may not want to fiddle around with it, but when 95% of the complaints are "It doesn't fit the board properly! Halp!" and the answer is "Press '4', that's the autosetup button." it's a little bit tedious. Also had a complaint a PC in the LRC won't work (oh, yeah. Most of the complaints are as vague as 'It doesn't work.' without an explanation) - turns out it the kettle lead to the PSU was unplugged.

 

Now sure, some pretty big things go wrong from time-to-time, but mostly it seems to be little things. Re-image machine. Plug stuff in. Autoalign projector. Turn wireless back on a laptop.

 

Honestly, I'm actually really enjoying my job so far, as I've been trying to get into working with PC's (read: with, not on) for years, and it's fun to be back in the learning chair and discovering new things I didn't know. It just astounds me that the basic things I knew when I was 13/14 adults don't seem to know now.