Pauses in school period -- sit sloppily (9)

I believe the answer is:

intermits

'pauses' is the definition.
('intermit' can be a synonym of 'pause')

'in school period sit sloppily' is the wordplay.
'school period' becomes 'term' (I've seen this before).
'sloppily' indicates anagramming the letters (I've seen this in other clues).
'sit' anagrammed gives 'its'.
'in'+'term'+'its'='INTERMITS'

(Another definition for intermits that I've seen is " Pauses".)

I've seen this clue in The Telegraph.

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