A student walks around a circle of teens sitting on the ground, tapping them on the head and chanting, until finally shouting and running away. This classic game of duck-duck-goose is expected at the lower grade levels, but not in high school. The longer 10 minute passing periods have given rise to various creative activities, like summer camp games, for spending the extra time between classes.

The upper school administration implemented a pilot bell schedule with daily block periods for the month of January and the first day of February.

Each class period is now 85 minutes long, 10 minutes more than block periods from the old schedule. There are four different lettered block schedules that rotate every day. Every week will have three of some classes and two of the others.

“I feel that the time parameters [of the classes] don’t feel so intense,” upper school history teacher Andrea Milius said. “It feels more relaxed and natural to me. I talk a lot, and sometimes I even forget to give breaks.”

The longer periods allow more time for learning, but the duration of the classes makes it hard to pay attention the whole time.

“[The class periods are] kind of long, and it’s a little hard to stay focused the entire time, but it helps that the teachers are giving us breaks,” Kelsey Wu (9) said.

The new schedule includes ten-minute passing periods, two 75-minute long lunches and four extra helps.

“There’s a lot more free time now,” Kevin Wang (12) said. “We have two long lunches and almost daily extra help, so there’s a lot more time to get homework done and hang out with friends.”

The schedule will revert to its previous form on Feb. 2nd, and students and parents will be able to give feedback in the week following the end of the pilot period.