I’m sure this will vary but I’m still interested to know. For students in secondary school, were you allowed to leave campus for lunch or did you have to stay on campus.
As an American, this varies across high schools as well, ESPECIALLY in the wake of mass shootings. But when I was in secondary school in the early 2010s, Seniors (17/18) were allowed to drive off campus for lunch.
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I did my GCSEs in 2014, only Sixth Formers were allowed to leave school site. As soon as the first person got a car, trips to Maccies became a regular occurrence
Current experience is only 6th form (years 12 and 13) at one school, and in other y11 can do so during study leave for GCSEs (so now until end of term in July), if they have parental permission.
Year 7,8,9 had to get special permission. Year 10
Onwards we could leave the site for lunch
I believe the schools are legally obliged to keep the students on site during school hours if they’re of mandatory age. For sixth formers (16-18), it’s voluntary attendance so we were allowed to come and go as we pleased.
Edit: you could leave under 16 with pre-arranged parental permission.
We weren’t allowed to, but everyone did anyway. There were two sweet shops and a chippy over the road, and town was a ten minute walk, so everyone just took the piss.
I think they clamped down on it a few times, but it was pretty fruitless with a school population of over a thousand and multiple ways of breaking free. Detentions we’re a rarity in those days too though.
Meanwhile, my kids can get a detention for dropping a pencil. Hilarious!
We were allowed out from Year 11 I think, so age 16. Not that there was anywhere really to go until people got cars, then it was trips out to the nearest service station with Maccies.
I remember it being only the sixth formers that were allowed to leave school site for lunch, and as everyone had started to pass their driving tests maccies became regular!
Late 80s / early 90s.
We weren’t allowed, but did it anyway – especially on Fridays when the local pub did curry and a pint for £2.50
Ages 16-18, yes (Sixth form). Years 1-5, nope.
1970s. A lot of kids lived close to school and went home for lunch. The rest of us were supposed to stay on school property and eat there. This was not enforced and many of us went out to eat at chip shops or similar places.
We were allowed out from year 10 onwards (age 14/15). This would have been in the mid-nineties.
I wasn’t, but I was at boarding school where the rules are a bit different, and I could “go home” between lessons anyway. There were *very* strict rules about whose car you could get in but the school was walkable from anywhere of interest.
My older children are at secondary school now and aren’t allowed off site between 8.30am and 3pm. All the external gates are locked so children who want to leave have to climb over.
Once they’re at sixth form college (age 16+) they’ll be allowed to come and go as they want so long as they turn up to scheduled lessons.
Wasn’t allowed to, neither is my son. Older years his school can
At my school you didn’t unless you had a note from parents and they lived in nearby estate. Most of our kids were on free school meals and so there was a general thing of everyone eat your lunch. It was pretty difficult to get out, like the fences were barbed wire or spiked or glass covered. But this was inner London tower hamlets in 1999-2004.
From years 7-11 you needed a pass to go home for lunch and you were strictly only allowed to go home.
Yes, in the sixth form, you could come and go as you pleased.
I think in Yr11 you needed a note from your parents to be permitted off-grounds for lunch.
Years 7-11 were only allowed out at lunch if they had a pass and you were only allowed to go home. If you were caught at the local takeaway or hanging around outside, they took away your pass lol.
Yes we were, but never did, we were lucky to have really good 2 course school meals for the price of a mars bar.
From the age of 12 we had to have written permission from our parents but could go into the town centre at lunch. HOWEVER we were absolutely not allowed to eat standing in the street. It was deemed unladylike (the boys’ school did not have the same rule).
Sixth form could – ages 17 – 18 doing Year 12 and 13.
Anyone could *only* if they had a note they could have lunch at home. There would be staff at the gate checking.
Our secondary school was surrounded by houses so some students were minutes from home.
Others like me were bussed in so never had any chance of going over the chippy or newsagents.
Sixth form, sure. Secondary school, no. Late 00s.
Year 10 upwards we could. Most people would either go home or (like me) would go to the chippy or the corner shop up the road.
Mind you this was like 2003. 20 years ago.
That statement makes me feel old.
This question has thrown me.
Started secondary school in 2001, I don’t think I ever once ate in the school cafeteria and instead went to the ASDA or McDonald’s, both of which were 5 minutes from the school as did most people at the school.
However, I can’t remember if we were expressly allowed to do so or not, or if we just did it anyway?
I know at primary school we had to give a lunch register and tell them if we were having lunch at school or going to the local shop (less than 2 minutes away) from maybe primary 4 or 5 onwards.
The minute we moved from primary to secondary it was fine provided you got back in time. Even in primary if you registered as a “home dinner” you could walk home or to a family members’ house for lunch.
Scottish High school in late 90s, we were allowed to leave. 11 year old me felt all grown up.
Yeah we were allowed, I don’t know of many kids who stayed on school grounds actually. I only lived 3 minutes walk from school so I just nipped home on my lunch break, a couple of my friends who lived further away would sometimes come back to mine as well.
In Scotland 2008 we were all allowed to leave for lunch
When I was at school in the 90s you could if you lived in the local area and went home for lunch. Possibly you needed a blanket permission from home to do this. That said, there was never anything stopping you anyway.
Now- absolutely not for 11-16
1995-99. I can’t remember if it was open to all years, possibly only years 9-11, but you could get a special pass to get out, if you had parental permission. I never had such permission but there were a few ways to sneak past the ‘dinner dogs’, our affectionate term for the dinner ladies that manned the gates. One being a hole in a fence, behind a bush that then went across a playing field before you got to my mates house. We didn’t even eat anything, it was just a thrill to do it. You had to be careful not to get seen going out as that was your only route back in as well.
I didn’t realise so many aren’t allowed out, had never really thought about. Secondary school in Scotland starting in late 2000s and s1-s6 could all leave at lunch, no problems
Yes, at both secondary school and the later two years in Primary School.
I used to walk home for lunch with my mother, and later at the upper school site, to my Grandmother’s at lunchtime.
In the early 90s my secondary school allowed you to leave school for lunch from age 12 up.
School dinners were appalling so nearly everyone ditched them once they had got through year 7, practically kept the local shopping precinct in business having nearly 1000 pupils descend on it every day.
20 years ago but we were “allowed” to walk down a brook to the next town type thing and sit and eat our lunch under a disused railway bridge surrounded by needles and condoms and the try to float our mate back to school down the water on a slab of abandoned polystyrene.
I think the school probably had rules against such things but they certainly weren’t enforced.
(Scotland)
Yes absolutely. It was encouraged actually. From S1 all the way up to S6.
I’m in Scotland
Only 1st years had to stay on grounds and were only allowed to leave if they went home. The rest of the years could go as they please.
Mid 80s. In our second year the dinner ladies went on strike so anyone who was on free dinners got a packed lunch and everyone else was allowed out to go home for lunch or the chippy (or as was more likely, the girls school five minutes down the road for a snog or a blowjob or something)
All of secondary school we were allowed to go into town for lunch, best I can tell that still happens judging by the swarm of kids at lunchtimes.
I’m Scottish though, seems the English do it differently.
I live in Scotland. I left school in 05 and we were allowed out at lunch. My daughter is currently at secondary and is also allowed out. I know some of her friends at a different school aren’t allowed out until they reach 3rd year (about age 14).
In my high school in Scotland we were allowed out after the first year of high school (about age 12). I think you had to get a slip signed by your parents but it was pretty unheard of for anyone not to have it signed.
We used to descend en masse into “The Village” and completely take over the entire village centre for 90mins every week day.
As a teenager it was great – there was a chip shop, mini supermarket, big park to get stoned in, fancy deli if you were feeling flush (school was in a quite ‘aspirational middle class’ location). I had a raging eating disorder so bought only a single can of red bull and 1 milky way crispy roll religiously every day and it went completely unchecked for about 3 years.
As an adult I can see what an absolute ballache it must have been to literally any other person. Imagine you get an hour to dash out for lunch and you have to spend it wading through spotty teenagers who stink of weed loudly quoting American Pie and The Office.