Kitakata Chugakko - The Background

Kitakata Junior High School (Chugakko) currently has about 150 students. They are 1st - 3rd grade students (age - 13-15yrs). The class sizes range from 20-30 students, and will no doubt continue to decrease every year as the Kitakata community ages. About 1/3rd of people living in Kitakata are over the age of 65yrs, and this trend is set to continue for some time.

At Kitakata Chugakko the students are friendly and kind. Of course there's the normal bad kid in class, but nothing compared to my ex-classmates in New Zealand. The students have 5 compulsory subjects, Maths, Science, English, Japanese and Social Studies. They recieve homework every night for these subjects. They also participate in PE, Home Economics, Industrial Arts (Wood Work; Metal Work), Art and Music. They Japanese education system is very strict, and many students study for more thaｎ 2 hours every night, as well as in the weekends.


The School Day

8.05 - The school day starts at 8.05am when the morning study period begins.

8.10 - Teachers' morning meeting starts.

8.25 -This is followed with the homeroom teacher notifying their class of any schedule changes. The schedules change often, in fact I have probably had a normal timetabled week less than ten times. There are always tests, festivals and other occasions for which class needs to be changed.

8.40 - Class starts at 8.40am and goes for a full 50minutes with a 10min break every hour. In the morning classes run for the first 4 periods before lunch. There is no morning break time and the students stay at their desks whilst the teachers change rooms.unlike New Zealand, the teachers change rooms every period and the students stay at their desks.
12.40 - Lunch time starts at 12.40pm and finishes at 1pm. The students eat lunch provided by the school in their classrooms with their homeroom teacher. (see below for further comments).

1.00 - Following lunch, there is break time for 45 minutes after which it's cleaning time!

1.50 - Cleaning time. (see below for further comments).

2.15 - Afternoon classes start at 2.15pm, and there is either 1 or 2 periods in the afternoon - Wednesday is a short day with only 1 period in the afternoon.

4.05 - . The last class finishes at 4.05pm, but from 4.30pm - 6.30pm most students participate in 'Club Activities'. At Kitakata Chugakko these activities are: Brass Band, Volleyball, Baseball, Basketball and Tennis. There is also the School Council who often meet after school to insure the smooth running of classes and activities.

4.50 - Teachers who don't have club activities finish.

6.30 - Last school bus leaves, club activities finish and the school is locked up.