Devizes pupils vote against a shorter lunch break (From This Is Wiltshire)

Pupils, parents and some staff at Devizes School have given the thumbs down to a shorter lunch break.

The school trialled a 30 minute lunch break instead of 50 minutes for a week last month and carried out consultation which resulted in 55 per cent of those who responded opposed to a shorter lunch break and as a result the school will stick with the 50 minute lunch break.

The consultation had 1,198 responses to the proposal of which 655 were against a shorter lunch break while 543 were in favour.

Of students who voted, 400 were against and 339 were in support. Of parents who voted, 200 were against and 160 were in favour. Of the teaching staff, 27 were in favour and 25 were against while of the support staff, 30 were against and 17 were in support.

Assistant headteacher Barbara Smart said: “The quality of the feedback was very high with constructive comments made for both possible outcomes. There were a range of arguments against changing the timings.

Students and staff said it would result in not having enough time to eat their lunch, no time to work on home learning tasks while clubs and other activities would not be able to take place and a feeling that students and staff need time to re-energise their batteries for afternoon classes.”

The shorter lunch break trial had led to the school day finishing 20 minutes earlier and Mrs Smart said this had resulted in a noticeable improvement in road traffic/student safety.