School proposes reducing time for lunches

STUDENTS at a Townsville high school will spend 35 minutes less at school a week under proposed changes to the timetable in 2020.

A meeting with staff, parents and guardians was held at Pimlico State High School on Tuesday night to discuss the changes, being considered to help teachers better prepare classes.

The proposal – which will be put to a teacher ballot next term – involves the school day finishing 15 minutes earlier on a Monday and five minutes earlier on the remaining days of the week.

The school maintained the proposed new timetable “does not reduce the actual teaching time provided to students” and would be achieved by shortening the second lunch break each day.

At the moment, first break is 40 minutes and the second is 45 minutes, with the proposal to shorten the second break on Mondays to 30 minutes and then 40 minutes for the rest of the week.

Addressing parents and students on the school’s Facebook page, the school said the changes “are necessary to meet the industrial requirements that will allow the school to create an extended meeting time for teachers every Monday afternoon”.

“Teachers have a limited amount of individual preparation time at school during the week and undertake the majority of their planning and preparation outside of school hours,” the note reads.

“It is important, however, to have regular opportunities for staff to meet, plan and work collaboratively with their colleagues.

“This helps ensure the school can effectively review and improve our curriculum offerings and our teaching approaches.”

School currently finishes at 3.05pm, whereas under the new timetable to begin at the start of the 2020 school year the final bell will ring at 2.50pm on Mondays and 3pm Tuesdays to Fridays.