To ask what you think to this school new rule?

[Redsatin109]

Just heard from other parents that apparently they’ll be reducing the amount of water y2 and upwards can have next year. So limiting the amount of times they can access their water bottle. This is because they’re only allowed to go to the toilets at breaks/lunch and it’s to limit toileting accidents in the classroom.

I can think of loads of jobs where you can’t go to the toilet whenever you want. Teachers for an start! Even office jobs I’ve had in the past time you and record how often you go during in working hours instead of breaks.

So wait... what? Sugar damages teeth?

Pretty sure I've seen videos of surgeons having a straw from a carton of ribena held into their mouth for them during surgery.

Yep, when I was a kid in the 60s and 70s, and my kids were kids in the 90s and 00s, we all had UTIs constantly from only being able to drink every 90 minutes or so.
Except we didn't.

My comment was about going to the toilet, not drinking, in response to another poster's comment that employers can't tell you when you can and can't go

Are you sure you haven't left anything out?

Children have very little autonomy in school.
One of the many reasons I home educate.

I taught for nearly forty years, only able to drink and go to the loo at break and lunchtime, and yet never had a UTI or became unwell with dehydration. It must be some kind of superpower.

🤣🤣🤣 Need that laugh emoji back

If you home educated 30 kids at a time, you'd soon cut down in their autonomy.

Oddly enough, working adults don't have a whole lot of autonomy either. That's life.

Can I just say, I’m not over reacting, I don’t really have much opinion at the moment. I’m just asking what others think for opinions because it’s new to me. DD is going into y2 in September. There’s a ‘WhatsApp group’ and lots of mums are on there complaining about it amongst themselves. (I am not on it.)

I have the same experience, only drank from water fountains at school, never took a water bottle.

I'm a teacher, trust me, there's always more than one!

It does! But apparently shitloads of parents don't because it continues to be on the increase in kids despite people supposedly being aware 🤔

Weird, right?

Any chance kids are playing with waterbottles, knocking them over, chucking them at each other?

Good on the school I say! At the high school I work at, all drinks must stay in bags, for reasons that many others have cited. They can be filled at break and dinner only.

We are one of “those schools” that doesn’t allow kids to go to the toilets during lessons (bar medical reasons or a genuine reason - ie kid is obviously desperate). Sadly that rule had to be introduced because most visits to the toilet were just to get out of lessons / meet up with friends / go on phones.

Which is exactly why a classroom environment isnt ideal for many children. Not being allowed to use the toilet? Or have a drink when thirsty?
Its so bad for children to hold a full bladder or bowel. A lot of children have overactive bladders or suffer anxiety in the absence of an accessible toilet.
And I have never worked anywhere where im not allowed to use the toilet or have a drink if im thirsty. And I dont know anyone that does. Teachers seem to always have a mug of something on their desks all day long. They can dismiss themselves for bathroom breaks. Your point is invalid.

My DC aren't at that age yet so I might change my opinion. But I don't think they need them all day long. It was the 00s when I went to school we were not allowed to have drinks in class. We were allowed to go to the toilet if we really needed to but it wasn't really allowed.

DS is now 3 he is constantly making me stop the car because he 'has' to pee. He hardly ever does have to it's just something to do. I can absolutely see him needing the loo constantly as an excuse to get out of the class room.

Like when we were kids and would spend ages sharpening pencils at the bin

Well, when you have half the class doing the water bottle challenge rather than maths, you may think differently.

I agree with you, but are we really calling lessons "teacher input" now?

A teacher can walk out, leaving their class unsupervised, to go to the toilet? No they can't.

I feel like you may have been out of the classroom and in the toilets when debating was being taught at your school.

Another survior of 80-90s education on a drink (200ml?) at breakfast, a sip/ glug from the fountain in the toilets at break, a small cup on the lunch tray (150ml?) at lunch and that was that until home time.
I avoided school milk as much as I could get away with too

Children weren't floundering with dehydration and nothing significant has changed since then to make constant access to bottles an essential part of survival to children without specific health concerns. Having a bottle avaliable to drink more at suitable intervals is a fair middle ground, but it doesn't have to be constant.

Bottles can be mis-used for disruptive and evasive behaviour. In my youth group, if it's a bit of a dry, talky badgework night, it's funny how much more the children drift off to the corner with the bottles, and how many more toilet requests we have compared to more active, engaging nights. And these are children that want to be there. In schools, it can be far worse, and it is reasonable for schools to manage access to water to cut disruption and off-task behaviour.

Obviously they can't leave children unsupervised. But they absolutely are allowed to use the toilet if they need to, as long as they arrange for another staff member to supervise while they go. There are often teaching assistants in most primary classes anyway.