Terrific Timetables

I was so excited last Tuesday night to finally get a call to start teaching, after all, it is one of the big reasons I came to Australia! For the time being, I am substitute teaching (or as they call it here: emergency teacher OR CRT- Casual Relief Teacher) with Standby Teachers. 

Since that first call, I have had steady work in a few different schools. My first subbing gig was at a lovely primary school in the Newport area. I really enjoyed the caring vibe the staff and students gave off. The following day, Megan and I were both and the same school in North Fitzroy in separate 3/4 classrooms. It was a long day for the both of us as the school simply gave off no positive vibes at all. On Friday however, I was so blessed to go to a fabulous school which was located between Pascoe Vale and Glenroy areas. It was a LONG train ride and and even longer cold, wet walk in the rain, but the radiance from the students, staff and parents immediately brightened my day! I was so happy when the asked me to come back to their school on Monday, which was another great day for me. It was a beautiful school and I will be sure to write more about it in a future blog when I plan to write about school layouts (because they had a phenomenal one!) I was privileged enough to get a call for another wonderful school this morning, I am planning to write about this experience in a future blog post about lesson structure as they sure did some amazing work! 

Today I wanted to write a post about the timetables most schools here have a similar variation of but it is much different then back in Canada. To be honest, when I got my first job, I was a bit skeptical of the timetable. I thought, "How is this going to work!" Little did I know that it would become something I absolutely adore.  

Here is a variation of what a timetable may look like in schools in Melbourne:
(8:45am)-School Begins / Morning Classes
(11:15am)-Morning Recess
(11:55am)-Classes
(1:25pm)-Lunchtime and Recess
(2:15pm)-Classes
(3:15pm)-Dismissal

I fell in LOVE with this timetable - it makes PERFECT sense! The bulk of the classes and usually the heavier subjects get completed in the morning sessions. This is when the children are most alert and ready to learn. Then, they break for recess for about 40 minutes. This is also when they eat their "brain food" which has to be a healthy fruit or vegetable or "naked" foods that do NOT come in packaging. This recess break also gives them ample amount of time to be physically active, play and develop essential skills like teamwork and empathy on the playground. It's also beneficial for the teachers to have that break as well. Teachers split the yard duty time in half so that everyone gets a break! 
They then resume classes with a load of fresh air in their systems and are ready to learn again. The later lunch and recess time work well because once they come back into the school for the final class session, there is only an hour left. Sometimes, the amount of learning after lunch can take a fall as children can either be restless from the amount of sugar in their lunches or they are much too tired to do a lot of work. With only an hour until dismissal, it's long enough to get a meaningful lesson in and also a short enough time to still keep the children's attention. 

I'd like to hear others thoughts on this timetable. Would you like it or not? Do you agree with a later lunch? Do you agree with longer recesses or do you side with shorter, more frequent recesses?