Water only at school- thoughts please

[lemony21]

I'd love to hear your thoughts about children being told to bring in only water to drink during school time.

Lemony when you talk about hydrating are you referring to drinks during the school day or the drink that goes with lunch?
Current government guide lines for packed lunches state 'water (still or fizzy), fruit juice, semi or skimmed milk, yogurt, milk drinks or smoothies may be included. It isn't the place of the school to then say water only.
During breaks etc plain water only is fine.

It's fine, if they're thirsty they'll drink. If they don't it's unlikely to harm them with the short duration of a school day.

Has anyone ever drunk from their childs water bottle at the end of a hot day? plus i find it difficult to get the lids/drink spouts properly clean....goodness knows what grimness lurks in there.

warm plastic tasting water. nice.

I like the idea of drinking fountains upthread.

I think it is absolutely sensible to have a water-only rule in the classroom (with a case by case adjustment for children with SEN or physical reasons why this is not possible - documented and supported by evidence in the same way as other adjustments are made) and for other drinks to be allowed in lunchboxes, where the food that they contain - mainly sugar, but also some vitamins - can be factored in to the overall food value of the lunch.

A typical 200ml carton of apple juice for example, contains about 4 teaspoonfuls of sugar, and if that is taken into account when planning the whole packed meal / food over a day, that's fine. If juice is freely available throughout the day, and not compensated for by decreasing sugar in meals, then it is easy to go over recommended sugar intake 'invisibly'.

When I was at school we had water from water fountains, guarded by water fountain monitors who would give you three seconds of water before you had to go to the back of the queue. Water in big metal jugs on the table at lunchtime, or you could pay 8p for a plastic cup of some squash mixture (orange or blackcurrant) that came out of a swirly machine thing operated by the drinks machine monitor. Those with packed lunches usually brought luke-warm squash in a Care Bears thermos unless they were posh in which case they had Capri-Sun.

My DC's school only allows water to be taken in (the infants have cups which they can fill in the classroom), with milk or water offered at lunchtime. I haven't noticed any children shrivelling up into a ball of dehydration, but maybe they are sneaking in squash.Anyway to answer your question OP I do not think you are being unreasonable to suggest only water as that is a policy at most schools, but it doesn't sound like you will get anywhere with it.

I see no problems with just water. If a child won't drink water its because they either are not thirsty or would prefer something with more taste. Its very easy to flavour water nowadays with fresh fruit, theres lots of inexpensive bottles on the market to make this an easy option.

All mine drink water, but would opt for something sweeter given the choice! They take water to school because I have never given them anything different for school or with their meals.

I don't agree with giving children sugar free squash as a regular drink anyway. The sugar has been replaced by artificial chemical sweeteners which in my view is more harmful than a glass of normal squash.

Agree that cold water is better - those bottles with freezer inserts are good, or cold water fountains, or simply access to a mains-fed cold tap.

Very sensible cantkeep

Squash with a Drs letter. Some parents are ridiculous and will get up in arms about things like this.

My sons school have a water only policy. Be no end of pain if some kids brought juice as mine would constantly whine. Never mind the kids teeth being rotted out of their head

@BertrandRussell

So, of the 16 in a class, 5 are reading with the teacher, 5 are making a storyboard of a book they've just read and 6 are finishing work from the finishing tray or a new job from the day's job list (TA supervising the 11 not with the teacher) and one of them gets up to get a drink, where is the low-level disruption? It's no different to a child needed a ruler or paper or getting another of their books for another task or to write their name under a task to show they've done it.

The only way it would be disruptive is if the 1 of 5 reading with the teacher tried and they would be told to sit back down.

As a secondary teacher I always find these threads amusing. I know some secondaries are very good, healthy places but most sell absolute shit out of their canteens, including takeaway pizza and chips and many have coffee machines and even Costa outlets...

a sugar free Fruit Shoot in a packed lunch is small fry (scuse pun) against this!

My friend saw the dinner ladies empty half drunk cups of water back into the serving jug last week!!

On a different not, at my DSs son they are not allowed to sue the water fountains , he says (and in actual fact I've never seen any). It is a definite issue that water and/ or squash gets very warm during the day.

Actually boo my niece did have to have a letter because of the constant water infections she she was getting. It was either that or day's off school at a time.

From a tiny baby if you gave her water it was like you were trying to poison her. I'd have never believed it if I hadn't seen it.

Last bit makes no sense ! Should say at my DS2's SCHOOL they are not allowed to USE water fountains ...

My dcs have been in a few schools (primary and secondary). Only water has been allowed.

If that helps, what our primary was saying is that they do not want squash etc.. as it sugary. Bottles leak and sugar in classrooms is a nightmare to deal with (sticky desk etc...) whereas water just dries.

Might be a nice angle to tackle it with that avoids the 'i am feeling judged about my parenting because my dcs only drink squash and never water' type of reaction (both from other teachers and parents)

I'd like to ban the lot tbf (maybe not at llunch and break!) ! We didn't have to keep drinking water during lessons on the 1980s!

I never drink during lesson time myself now!

Bottle flipping, and fiddling and gulping and peeling wrappers off and borrowing each other's water (ew) and crinkling and squashing the bottles and 'can I fill my bottle up??' : it drives me insane!!

name the thing is

• yes a lot (most?) water bottles are crap in design. I spent quite a lot of time finding one thatnw Do allow mound to develop.
• but this usually solved by washing the bottle at the end of the day EVERYDAY (not what my own dcs were doing which is leaving in their bag. They certainly needed constant reminders)
• having squash in a bottle instead of water will make it even worse. Algi might love water but bacteria absolutely thrives in sugary environments.

Is the answer to only allow a water fountain or a jug on the classroom instead??

I agree with you. Water only is standard at DS1's school, and at DS2's preschool.

I see some people are suggesting a doctor's letter- I'm a GP and, for the love of god, please do not turn up requesting this. Total utter waste of NHS time and totally beyond my scope of experience.

Water only sounds perfect.

Love the "My ds1 came home and announced water is great for you, and lions drink water accompanied by a huge roar. "

I think what most posters are saying is that they would support a policy of water only in the classroom/in between lessons & with whatever restrictions are put in place by the teacher but that schools should allow other drinks as part of a packed lunch.

For practical reasons connected with spillages, water bottles are kept on a shelf at the back of my classroom.

Drinking at break and between lessons is the normal expectation.

Filling of water bottles is only allowed at break and lunchtime - ie in their own time not teaching time - with obvious exceptions around PE and if the weather is exceptionally wam.

No child can access them during the teaching phase of the lesson, and a quick drink and return to work is the expectation at any time - basically the same rules as toilet breaks. In the same way as toilet breaks, there are one or two known exceptions for whom the rules are different.

If a child complains of a headache or feeling unwell, then the first thing they do is have a drink of water.

I really couldn't be doing with water bottles on desks - too much opportunity for off-task fiddling.

Just water sounds perfect to me.

Yes I have drank from the water bottle at end of day. On warm days there is a plastic taste!
I/DH rinse it as soon as get home and leave it to dry before filling the next time.
I'd prefer the option of them bringing a plastic beaker to school/water fountain to use for water as it is lighter and fresher. But if this was easier for school I guess they would have done it and current set up is officially water only but I know some children do bring squash (no medical/special reason).

My DC hardly drink in school but they do have drink water offered at breakfast and loads of milk with cereal so I think they would drink if they were thirsty.

Rainbow, would you think it OK to be asked for a letter for a child wth ADHD, for example,who wouldn't drink water?

Again I totally agree with everything you say cantkeep