# Jornada Continua in Secondary Schools



## Chopera (Apr 22, 2013)

Does anyone have any experience of this? Especially in secondary schools (institutos)

My eldest child in nearing the age when we have to consider options for secondary education, but it seems all the institutos near us operate a continuous timetable (jornada continua) from about 8.30 in the morning to 2.30 in the afternoon, with maybe a 20 minute break in the middle. If the instituto has a sección bilingue then some days the timetable is from 8.30 to 3.30.

To me it seems frankly ridiculous to expect a 12 year old child to study for 6 hours with only a 20 minute break. On top of this, it seems many lessons take place in the same room, so they don't even get a change of scenery that often, or a break when they move between classrooms

When I talk to other parents many are opposed to the jornada continua, saying that it was tough for them when they started at instituto when they were 14, but now the kids start when they are 12 it is even worse. However other parents don't seem too bothered, but I suspect that might be because their kids had a similar jornada continua in primary school, albeit not quite so many consecutive hours. My kids currently have a more traditional timetable with a lunch break and classes in the afternoon, so this would be a real shock to them.

Thx


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## Pesky Wesky (May 10, 2009)

Chopera said:


> Does anyone have any experience of this? Especially in secondary schools (institutos)
> 
> My eldest child in nearing the age when we have to consider options for secondary education, but it seems all the institutos near us operate a continuous timetable (jornada continua) from about 8.30 in the morning to 2.30 in the afternoon, with maybe a 20 minute break in the middle. If the instituto has a sección bilingue then some days the timetable is from 8.30 to 3.30.
> 
> ...


 Chopera, I don't remember the timetable being a problem. It takes a while to get used to it, but the human being is very adaptable!
I remember sending my daughter to school with a hearty snack for mid morning, but it was so unusual that even the teachers commented on it!


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## snikpoh (Nov 19, 2007)

To be honest, that seems like luxury!

Our three went from 09:00 - 14:00 and then 15:30 - 18:00 now that is a long day.

They didn't go to an instituto though, just ESO (concertrado)


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## Chopera (Apr 22, 2013)

Pesky Wesky said:


> Chopera, I don't remember the timetable being a problem. It takes a while to get used to it, but the human being is very adaptable!
> I remember sending my daughter to school with a hearty snack for mid morning, but it was so unusual that even the teachers commented on it!


Thanks PW. I was hoping someone would tell me it's not such a big deal. I assumed most kids would eat a snack during the break otherwise they'd be going for at least 6 hours without any food. 

It's something that concerns me because I had to get an early bus to secondary school and looking back, I was tired and switched off in many classes and I think others did as well. But as children we weren't that bothered by it, and just brushed it off because it was the same for everyone else. But at least we had regular breaks between lessons. It's hard for me to imagine the 12 year old me being able to start early and do classes for 6 or 7 hours with only one break and without switching off for at least some of those classes.


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## Chopera (Apr 22, 2013)

snikpoh said:


> To be honest, that seems like luxury!
> 
> Our three went from 09:00 - 14:00 and then 15:30 - 18:00 now that is a long day.
> 
> They didn't go to an instituto though, just ESO (concertrado)


Yes that is a long day. My kids currently attend a concertado as well, but they leave at 5pm and have a 2 hour break in the middle of the day, and a half hour break around 11am. Their school does ESO as well, so they could continue there and have a similar timetable although probably with fewer/shorter breaks. However it might then be difficult to find somewhere for them to do Bachillerato since the institutos tend just to keep the kids who did ESO with them. That's why I'm considering sending them to an instituto for ESO.


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## kalohi (May 6, 2012)

My kids went through the entire school system here in Spain, always in public school. They had a continuous time table right from the start. Preschool and primary went from 9:00-2:00, with a half hour break at 12 o'clock. Secondary went from 8:00-2:30, with a half hour break at 11 o'clock. My kids were always fine with it. It's true that they stayed in the same room all day except for "special" classes like PE or art. But they did in fact get a mini break every hour while the teachers moved from classroom to classroom. 

I see a lot of advantages to a continuous time table. It gives the kids a big chunk of time to do other things or simply to relax in the afternoons/evenings. And they can eat lunch at home with the family without having to make 2 round trips a day to school. 

And by the way, when my kids were in secondary they always took a big sandwich (made with a bread roll) to eat during the break - as did nearly all the other kids.


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## alpinist (Feb 8, 2009)

Their days are normally even longer in reality as they get shunted off to English/Maths/Music classes in the afternoon until 7pm too. I even have some 15 year old students in my nominally adult English class which finishes at 10pm; I've no idea how they cope. One doesn't really, but she comes to me directly from a 90 minute Chinese class on the other side of town so to be expected!

During morning snack time (merienda) we see loads of teens milling about in the streets outside sweet shops and bakeries - they think the concept of a packed lunch is pretty funny.


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## Chopera (Apr 22, 2013)

kalohi said:


> My kids went through the entire school system here in Spain, always in public school. They had a continuous time table right from the start. Preschool and primary went from 9:00-2:00, with a half hour break at 12 o'clock. Secondary went from 8:00-2:30, with a half hour break at 11 o'clock. My kids were always fine with it. It's true that they stayed in the same room all day except for "special" classes like PE or art. But they did in fact get a mini break every hour while the teachers moved from classroom to classroom.
> 
> I see a lot of advantages to a continuous time table. It gives the kids a big chunk of time to do other things or simply to relax in the afternoons/evenings. And they can eat lunch at home with the family without having to make 2 round trips a day to school.
> 
> And by the way, when my kids were in secondary they always took a big sandwich (made with a bread roll) to eat during the break - as did nearly all the other kids.


Yes I can see there are certain advantages, also children tend to concentrate better in the morning and i've seen comments from teachers that it's very hard to get children to concentrate after the long mid day break. But I was wondering if the timetable was going from one extreme to the other. I've also seen more cynical comments suggesting that one reason for institutos switching to the jornada continua is they don't need to provide proper lunches any more. Certainly the ones I've visited only have canteens serving light bites such as bocadillos and pizza slices, that aren't particularly healthy. I'm sure my kids wouldn't complain though


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## Chopera (Apr 22, 2013)

_Si_ said:


> Their days are normally even longer in reality as they get shunted off to English/Maths/Music classes in the afternoon until 7pm too. I even have some 15 year old students in my nominally adult English class which finishes at 10pm; I've no idea how they cope. One doesn't really, but she comes to me directly from a 90 minute Chinese class on the other side of town so to be expected!
> 
> During morning snack time (merienda) we see loads of teens milling about in the streets outside sweet shops and bakeries - they think the concept of a packed lunch is pretty funny.


Yes the Spanish seem to spend so much time studying that I often wonder if they have any time left over to actually learn anything! The culture seems to be that in order to do well you need to spend hours each day filling your head with information in order to pass some exam, such as oposiciones or a "masters" or whatever, and the more hours you burn the better. And then they expect the same of their children.


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## Pesky Wesky (May 10, 2009)

_Si_ said:


> During morning snack time (merienda) we see loads of teens milling about in the streets outside sweet shops and bakeries - they think the concept of a packed lunch is pretty funny.


Oh! Merienda here refers to the afternoon snack, not midday.




Chopera said:


> I've also seen more cynical comments suggesting that one reason for institutos switching to the jornada continua is they don't need to provide proper lunches *any more*. Certainly the ones I've visited only have canteens serving light bites such as bocadillos and pizza slices, that aren't particularly healthy. I'm sure my kids wouldn't complain though


As far as I know secondary schools have never served lunches, and that certainly does cut down on the cost of building a school, and yes, that is the main reason for no afternoon schedule, but it's not as if lunches were taken away - they were never provided. The canteen is a separate business


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## kalohi (May 6, 2012)

_Si_ said:


> Their days are normally even longer in reality as they get shunted off to English/Maths/Music classes in the afternoon until 7pm too. I even have some 15 year old students in my nominally adult English class which finishes at 10pm; I've no idea how they cope. One doesn't really, but she comes to me directly from a 90 minute Chinese class on the other side of town so to be expected!


My last class each evening runs from 8:15-9:45 and is filled entirely with high school kids aged 15-17. That might seem late to us...but when I walk home after the class there are still plenty of _primary_ aged kids outside playing! Sleep obviously isn't a priority for Spanish families around here. 



_Si_ said:


> During morning snack time (merienda) we see loads of teens milling about in the streets outside sweet shops and bakeries - they think the concept of a packed lunch is pretty funny.


Students in my area aren't allowed off of school grounds during the school day. So they either have to bring their own snack or they go without.


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## snikpoh (Nov 19, 2007)

kalohi said:


> Students in my area aren't allowed off of school grounds during the school day. So they either have to bring their own snack or they go without.


Wow. At our school the children were NOT allowed to bring packed lunches "for fear of contamination". That is, in case they shared something that someone else was allergic to.

They either had to have school lunches or had to leave the premises.


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## xabiaxica (Jun 23, 2009)

Pesky Wesky said:


> Oh! Merienda here refers to the afternoon snack, not midday.
> 
> 
> 
> As far as I know secondary schools have never served lunches, and that certainly does cut down on the cost of building a school, and yes, that is the main reason for no afternoon schedule, but it's not as if lunches were taken away - they were never provided. The canteen is a separate business


Here too - the morning snack is almuerzo. 

The canteen at my girls' insti sold pastries & bocadillos. But then it isn't the main meal, it's a snack, as said.

The main meal was when they got home 2.30 / 3.30.


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## kalohi (May 6, 2012)

xabiaxica said:


> Here too - the morning snack is almuerzo.


And here the morning snack is called desayuno. Who knew there were so many names for the same thing!


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## alpinist (Feb 8, 2009)

Up here, a restaurant menu might say 'desayuno y merienda' meaning breakfast and morning snacks. The kids say they have merienda at 11am. A school canteen here was recently shut for giving a load of kids food poisoning over Christmas. Doesn't help their reputation much!

I can't remember how old they have to be to roam the streets freely, it's something of ESO though. In any case, although we hear about Spanish schools being locked down during the day, many of the ones in villages here don't even have gates. 

---
Castilla y León | Andalucía


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## snikpoh (Nov 19, 2007)

_Si_ said:


> Up here, a restaurant menu might say 'desayuno y merienda' meaning breakfast and morning snacks. The kids say they have merienda at 11am. A school canteen here was recently shut for giving a load of kids food poisoning over Christmas. Doesn't help their reputation much!
> 
> I can't remember how old they have to be to roam the streets freely, it's something of ESO though. In any case, although we hear about Spanish schools being locked down during the day, many of the ones in villages here don't even have gates.
> 
> ...


That's just wrong though surely. Merienda is (I thought) about 5pm usually.

https://erikras.com/2012/02/16/a-guide-to-spanish-meal-names/


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## 95995 (May 16, 2010)

snikpoh said:


> That's just wrong though surely. Merienda is (I thought) about 5pm usually.
> 
> https://erikras.com/2012/02/16/a-guide-to-spanish-meal-names/


Meal names vary hugely across Spain, though.


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## alpinist (Feb 8, 2009)

snikpoh said:


> That's just wrong though surely. Merienda is (I thought) about 5pm usually.
> 
> 
> 
> https://erikras.com/2012/02/16/a-guide-to-spanish-meal-names/


I don't disagree, but it could be a regional thing. Ask a group of Brits what they call evening meal and you'll get at least three answers. 

They don't have the present perfect tense (eg. I have studied) around here either; some report only learning it when they went to uni in other regions! 

---
Castilla y León | Andalucía


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## Alcalaina (Aug 6, 2010)

snikpoh said:


> That's just wrong though surely. Merienda is (I thought) about 5pm usually.
> 
> https://erikras.com/2012/02/16/a-guide-to-spanish-meal-names/


Merienda comes from the verb merendar, to have a light snack. I've never heard it used for a morning snack (which is desayuno here). It's usually taken around 6.30 pm. 5 pm would be too soon after lunch!

Love these regional differences. Like in the UK at in the old days, with "school dinners" at midday ...


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## Lynn R (Feb 21, 2014)

School dinners at midday, yes. From the age of 11 when I started secondary school I caught 3 buses each way to and from school, leaving home at 7.30 am and getting back at 5.30 pm. Breakfast was eaten before leaving home. We had a hot meal at lunchtime but certainly didn't take a mid morning (or afternoon) snack. It was a wonder I didn't starve to death.


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## Alcalaina (Aug 6, 2010)

Lynn R said:


> School dinners at midday, yes. From the age of 11 when I started secondary school I caught 3 buses each way to and from school, leaving home at 7.30 am and getting back at 5.30 pm. Breakfast was eaten before leaving home. We had a hot meal at lunchtime but certainly didn't take a mid morning (or afternoon) snack. It was a wonder I didn't starve to death.


LOL, same here  Though we did have a "tuck shop" on Thursday mornings. Jammy Dodgers or Wagon Wheels to go with our free school milk.


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## Pesky Wesky (May 10, 2009)

snikpoh said:


> That's just wrong though surely. Merienda is (I thought) about 5pm usually.
> 
> https://erikras.com/2012/02/16/a-guide-to-spanish-meal-names/


If people use it and it's understood it's not "wrong". Confusing maybe, but that's language all over!


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