Minutes after 11 a.m. Friday, dozens of students at Whitman Middle School in Fairfax County, Virginia, sprinted out of the cafeteria.
Greeting assistant principal Matthew Johnson on the way, some students sprinted toward an empty field and organized a game of two-hand-touch football. On the far side of the field, a handful of students started a game of soccer. Others played with glitter, watched the sporting events in front of them or leaned against the fence and started talking to friends.
It’s a scene that unfolds daily after lunch, as Virginia’s largest school system updated its student and staff health and wellness policy to allow for a 15-minute recess period for middle schoolers last year.
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The school board unanimously passed the change in April. Before this school year, elementary school students were the only ones given outdoor time outside of class during the school day. Sixth-graders at the few elementary schools that offer sixth-grade classes also previously had the benefit of a recess period.
The designated time out of class looks a bit different at each of the county’s middle schools, but at Whitman, Johnson said kids begin asking whether they’ll be able to play outside as soon as the school day begins. Even if it’s cold or drizzling, he said, students remain adamant that they want the time outside. In the event of inclement weather, students are given time for a supervised indoor activity.
“We all feel good that we have recess, and pretty excited,” eighth-grader Joey Lee said. “It calms me down if I need to get my energy out.”
Eighth-grader Briannah Brayboy initially thought middle schoolers may be too old to have a recess block during the day. But, “once it started to go on course, it was really fun. I’m glad our superintendent decided to make recess a thing for us middle schoolers.”
Brayboy spends the time playing tag, or watching one of the more popular events of the period: a two-hand-touch football game that students said gets very competitive. Even before recess, seventh-grader Elijah Dean said, the teams begin getting organized. Team members usually remain the same, so the only decision that has to be made is which team gets the ball first.
Cones are used to set field boundaries, student Sharif Gaines said, and “you don’t have an offensive line blocking, but you can go after the quarterback and the quarterback can run, but it’s a lot of deep throws.”
The school’s administrators supervise the recess period, and blow a whistle when it’s time for students to return to class. When Johnson blew his Friday whistle, the football players begged for time for one more play.
Teachers, Johnson said, say students are more attentive in class after the midday the break.
“Generally, [recess] is just coming outside and not having to sit at a desk sometimes and just learn a subject and then another subject,” student Jolene Phillips said. “Sometimes you get to sit and just learning about new things is great, but also coming outside and just refreshing your brain to start to get more air [is helpful].”
