Therese Hoyle
Therese Hoyle's seminar is called "Help - what can I do about lunchtimes?" because that was what staff and heads so often wailed at her during her work as a behavioural trainer with Jenny Mosley consultancies.
"Nowadays a 90-minute break is not uncommon," Therese explains. "In cities in particular, the typical playground is an expanse of concrete. What lunchtimes in these circumstances produce may not be so much bad behaviour as bored behaviour, but whichever, the effect is devastating. The lunchbreak can be a terrible time. Afterwards, teachers have to deal with queues of miserable, restless children complaining about what happened at lunch."
Therese arrives in schools with a checklist of practical suggestions, and she will be sharing these during her seminar. One of the first things she suggests is that the playground rules should be agreed at a meeting of the whole school, including playground supervisors, then posted outside. "Sometimes children know how they are supposed to behave in school, but think there are no rules in the playground. They also tend to play lunch staff off against teachers, which is why it's vital for everyone to be seen to be playing by the same rules."
Other ideas include creating different "zones", recruiting Year 6 pupils (who have to apply and be interviewed for the post) to act as uniformed "playground friends" to take responsibility for younger pupils, and establishing "friendship stops" where children can go for help if they feel lonely or fall out with their mates. "A lot of our work involves building respect for the lunchtime supervisors," Therese says. "They need the authority to apply the same system of rewards and penalties as the teachers use in class, so that the lunchbreak feels like an integral part of the school day."
Therese is evangelistic on the subject, and stresses that a lot can be done with a little money. "I really don't think 'revolutionise' is too strong a term for the beneficial effect it can have on a school to just get lunchtime right," she says.
* Help! What can I do about lunchtimes? Ref 24, 10. Sunday, October 7, 11am
