As a headteacher for over 18 years, I am more than familiar with the challenges of lunchtime. For many schools, the lunch break brings with it some behaviour issues, complaints from pupils along the lines of, ‘He said…She said…’ and lots of lining up—lining up to leave the classroom, lining up to go into the dining hall, lining up to leave the dining hall and lining up to go back into the classroom. To manage this—and in response to the fact that Ofsted often focuses on lunchtime behaviour—some schools have started to cut the lunch break, shaving off 15 minutes or so in the hope of addressing some of these issues. At St Peter’s, however, we have found a better solution.
Playtimes of lunchtimes past
I have been the headteacher at St Peter’s Catholic Primary School in the City of Gloucester for 10 years now. Until recently, our lunchtimes were very structured and organised. The focus was on making sure children got their lunch, had some playtime and then got back to class, not on maximising the opportunity to play during the lunch hour.
Our midday supervisors (as they were called back then) were each linked to one class. That class had an allocated area of the playground in which to play, an allocated time to eat in the dining hall and a timetabled spot to use the multi-use games area. Much of our outdoor space (such as the school field) was out of bounds in order to keep it and the children clean and tidy. Supervisors took their class into the dining hall at an allocated time and then they would wait for everyone to finish before taking them back outside where they would then line up to go back to class when lunchtime was over.
The structure was very confining—the whole hour was carefully organised with the primary aim being to limit disruption. Lunchtime supervisors spent most of their time managing the children.
A chance meeting that would change our lunchtimes forever...
All of this changed when I met the Director of Outdoor Play and Learning (OPAL), Michael Follett, at an Achieving Resilience Through Play and Drama (ARTPAD) event in July 2017. There’s a lot of evidence that shows how play contributes to children’s physical and emotional health, wellbeing, approach to learning and enjoyment of school, and I asked myself, ‘are we giving the children a good enough experience?’ St Peter’s was about to launch a three-year plan to support pupils’ mental health and wellbeing, so an outdoor play programme felt like a natural fit—the OPAL Primary Programme is a mentor-supported school improvement programme to help schools improve the quality of their play opportunities. I enrolled the school shortly afterwards and we started in October 2017.
Our journey has been transformational in the most positive sense, but embedding a whole new approach to lunchtimes was inevitably challenging. There was a lot of work to do, which took a real commitment from staff. During the programme, OPAL worked with us over an 18-month period to support an entire cultural and practical transformation of the way that play was thought about, planned for, resourced and staffed. We had to restructure the lunchtime team and revise their job descriptions. It was tough, but you get out of it what you put in. And we wanted the programme to be truly embedded in our school.
How we made 20% of our school day 100% better
We launched the programme in April 2018 and saw the difference immediately. We expected to spend some time in the first couple of weeks troubleshooting, but it was seamless from day one! The only issue we had was that on the third day in, 10 children forgot to have their lunch because they were having such a great time!
We still have an hour for lunchtime, but how the children spend that time couldn’t be more different. Early Years and Y1 still go into the dining hall first, but the other children can eat their packed lunches outside. The rest of the children having a hot dinner go in for their lunch independently in five-minute intervals. Children take ownership of their time and are responsible for making sure they get something to eat. We were lucky that we didn’t have to make any redundancies to the lunchtime team—all former supervisors make up our new play team! They’re no longer allocated to a class, but to one of our seven play zones. In addition to the seven zones, three of the play team are allocated to the dining hall and two of them are first-aid floaters. There’s a sandpit and muddy kitchen zone, forest school zone, quiet zone, scooter and go-kart zone, den-making zone, field zone and a bank zone. The play team is on a rota—the zone that they are allocated to changes on a weekly basis, so they get to experience all types of play. Unlike the play team, the children can roam freely from zone to zone depending on their mood. As their play is no longer segregated by class, they can play with siblings, friends and cousins who are in other year groups, which they think is amazing. Some lunchtime supervisors were apprehensive about the change, but now they all love it.
One of the big changes that OPAL schools traditionally see is a dramatic decrease in behaviour incidents. Although the impact has been a lot less obvious for us as behaviour has never been an issue, what we have noticed is that children are so engaged in their play and have such a rich play experience that we’re not dealing with the little niggles that we had before as children are actually sorting these issues out very successfully themselves. In addition to this, we have also noticed a marked reduction in reported accidents. Before the programme we were dealing with a lot of minor scratches but now we rarely have these because the children are having such a fantastic time that they don’t report these minor bumps any more. There are also fewer children wanting to come inside at lunchtime and our school survey showed that there has been a 36 per cent increase in self-reported happiness. This isn’t surprising, as there is just so much fun to be had. Children can make dens (which they talk about all the time), play in the sandpit, make slides down the banks, push each other in the prams, ride scooters, dress up—the possibilities for enriched play are endless. This is reflected in the following comments made by the children:
‘I love getting into the barrel and rolling down the bank – it’s wicked!’
‘My favourite is climbing the trees—I can see lots up there.’
‘I made a den out of material and pegs and put cushions inside and me and my friends sit inside and sing songs.’
There’s no such thing as bad weather, only inappropriate clothing
We go out in all but very extreme weather. Children bring in protective clothing from home so if the school field is a bit muddy, parents aren’t washing uniforms every night. We have a welly post—if it has a welly on it, children are only allowed to go on grassy areas if they’re in wellies. They’re responsible for making sensible choices and encouraged to be independent. We also set up a working party and invited parents to join, so we were able to make decisions on things like suitable clothing that would address any concerns. It means that on muddy days, parents are mostly supportive, which is great. They tell us that it’s all the children talk about.
As part of our programme, we decided to open our space after school so parents can join their children and have fun in the different play zones. So, on a Monday and a Friday children and parents can stay and play until 4pm. The school’s leader of the programme, Mr Dowling, is absolutely passionate about it and its impact on pupil wellbeing—his commitment and dedication to this project is one of the reasons why it is so successful.
Join the lunchtime revolution
My one piece of advice for other headteachers would be to recognise that lunchtime is an important part of the school day. It’s an opportunity for children to get fresh air, to exercise their right to play and to enjoy themselves. It makes children—and staff—happier and more engaged. We’re always looking for a magic cure for improved behaviour, higher physical activity levels, better mental health. Play is it.
For more information on the OPAL programme, visit:
www.outdoorplayandlearning.org.uk
Carol Baron is headteacher at St Peter’s Catholic Primary School in the City of Gloucester.