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Westfield Primary removed its bells and replaced them with questions

Instead of a bell marking the end of lunch, Westfield now plays a recorded question over the tannoy each day, submitted by a different class on rotation. Students have ten minutes to discuss an answer with whoever's nearby before the next lesson.

Headteacher Ruth Okonjo says the shift was small on paper but changed the texture of the school day. Corridor conversations shifted from complaints about lunch to genuine arguments about the day's question.

The idea has been adopted, in modified form, by two other primary schools in the district after a visit from their staff.

schools that copied the model

minutes of daily question time