I remember lots of practice with unstructured time but I don't know if it helped. I do think London schools are different, there's so much going on in the city people think it's normal. In the small seaside town I grew up in nothing much going on was like the default state of existence. Even so TV American High Schools always look orders of magnitude more structured than anything here. Homecomings and Proms and marching bands and May Queens. Cheerleaders and Jocks. Sure, I remember hierarchies and tribal affiliations but it was much fuzzier and less global. My brother was a rugby player but only other rugby players respected that.