On average children 'socialise' for 30-60 minutes a day at school.

I’m referring to KS1 and KS2 here.

If you haven’t worked in a primary school in the UK, you will never know the true realities of what it is like to be in a classroom. If you have worked in a school and you think that children ‘socialise’ for more than this amount of time - you are the exception and I’m delighted for your students if this is truly the case.

If you truly believe that ‘socialising’ happens in Primary schools, I have to tell you that I completely and utterly disagree.

Having worked in hundreds of schools across London for nearly 20 years, I’m going to paint a vivid picture for you about what ‘socialising’ looks like in Primary Schools.

Here is a great meaning of socialising for you.

Socialising for children is the developmental process of learning to interact, communicate, and build relationships with others, starting from infancy and extending into community integration. It involves developing empathy, understanding social cues, sharing, managing emotions, and learning to navigate diverse social situations.

Do you really think all of that can happen in a school environment?

In a typical classroom (KS1 and KS2), my students would come in between 8:30-9am and they would go to their desks. Depending on the behavioural issues in my classroom, I would set the noise level that I expected. Between 8:30 - 9 would be a golden time for my students to work on gaps and areas to develop further so usually they would come in, say hi to me, say hi to a couple of their classmates, sit down and get on with the learning usually in silence or at least quietly.

Between 9-10:30 we would have a lesson (maths or english). At 10:30 my students would go out to play for 15 minutes. By the time most of my students would have completed their tasks to the standard acceptable by the school, they would have already missed a few minutes of play. At play time, this would be their window for socialising, In my opinion morning break would be too rushed - for the teachers too!

11-12:30 would be another lesson (maths or English) and then reading typically. Most schools that I taught at, management would expect noise levels to be at silence whilst the children would do their learning and there is a very good reason for this! With noise comes lack of focus which equals to not the best quality learning!

12:30 - 1:30 would be lunch time. By the time my students had queued for their lunch, sat down to eat etc 20 minutes would at least have passed. Here I would be able to observe some lovely socialising whilst eating their lunch. After lunch they would go to play and here too, they could have the opportunity to socialise. Most playtimes however, teachers would be called to deal with behavioural issues.

1:30 -3:30 - more lessons and more learning. No socialising.

3:30 Home time.

So does socialising really happen in schools?