Is checking contents of childrens bottles and confiscating them if not water only illegal?

[devonvalley]

New head has instructed staff to do above!!
They get returned 2 hrs later a t lunch, so my son who is working towards water only,has a drink at 8am then not til 1pm ! the idea behind preventing dehydration is to increase a childs fluid intake to enhance concentration levels in school and a dash of good squash or flavoured water which a lot of parents would /are using will be confiscated !!(hs sugar free additive free, natural flavouring dash of squash to take rawness off for time being) all rest of family drink water, but son has food issues,and refuses to drink water on its own.we keep trying,others did convert a t there own pace!(children should be treated as individuals at school are they not??) If it was coke i could understand!
We have to give written consent to many things in school time, this needs our permission does it not?checking, confiscating. We fought two wars in this country to deny dictorial leadership??

But matte, that depends entirely on teh head; I explained what happened with us in the post below, that Head simply wouldn;t accept it and when we tried your route took the water away.

Fortuanely said head has no left and ds3 is at an SNU anyway. But a quick glance through SN will tell you not all HEads are amenable to variations based on SN / medical circs at all. Sadly.

Of course it depends on the head, and I have a long list of horror stories regarding unsympathetic heads and SN. Still no reason not to try the pleasant approach first though. Dd's head was bonkers. BUt I always gave him a chance to be non-bonkers first.

From OP's posts, I was under the impression she HAD spoken to the head, and that permission was being refused.

perhaps that is why OP is now stressed about it? she has tried the usual, polite route, but now has little room for manoeuvre?

because once you have had that conversation, and the answer from the head is to ignore or belittle any request, it does leave you feeling battle-weary , and anxious.

Again, as Cory says?

silverfrog the point I was trying to make is that you don?t ask permission, in fact you don?t phrase the letter in such a way as to open any form of dialogue at all. You state what will be happening (as regards your child, what anyone else chooses to do is neither here nor there), and why it will be happening. And add that unless you hear to the contrary, you will assume that this is OK.

Of course SMA some HTs are just t***s and this isn?t always the end of the matter. You might have to go further and threaten to involve the governors and/or LEA. On one occasion we had to start invoking the Disabilities Discrimination Act, but if you feel as strongly as the OP does, it?s worth the fight.

mattellie, that may well have worked for you.

it did not work for me, at 2 different schools.

thankfully dd1 is now at a school where they are happy to work with her and us to overcome any issues she might have.

please do not assume I do not know how to approach these matters.

I repeatedly told (nicely and politely) the relevant people that dd1 needed her juice.

I repeatedly found that they nicely and politely agreed, and then behind my back did something different (I presume they thought dd1 could/would not tell me. she could and did)

at the second school, it was a case of "do it our way or leave". shockingly, this attitude was found at a SN school, and all they were interested in doing was making their own lives easier.

we left.

honestly, it really isn't always that easy to do. we fought for years to get dd1 into a school where she would be treated like an individual, and our concerns taken seriously. we had to threaten and initiate legal action to get her there.

I am not someone who gives up when the first conversation goes wrong.

But it still took nearly 3 years to get anywhere near a school that would let us work with dd1 at ehr own pace.

Matt ah long dealt with LOL, and yes DDA and everntually a panel to write into statement needed!

But sorted and eventually fodder to help move him to the wonderful place he is now.

I can see the need for different rules with a child who has SN- but food issues is not a special need in it's own right.

All children have their likes and dislikes, and the op is saying many children in the class are unhappy- still sound like a load of parents and kid just disgruntled at the rule change to me.

Chipshopchips you just have tunnel vision!!!but so do a lot of you!! You just can't see the bigger picture!!
Mrs Tayto and other people who live in the real world thanks for your open minded attitude.
A child who is thirsty, should be given a drink with a splash of flavoured squash or flavoured water= a happy alert, able to concentrate more (which is aim of Government) so a little flexability for those children who dislike or won't drink water would achieve this aim without fuss!
I don't want my child to have a bottle containing a dilute squash at the table just left in his tray to drink on his return from break- is that so difficult???? our head thinks so, only until he is a fully fledged water drinker like all of us in the family.(teachers think all children are clumsy? and cleaning paint and glue off tables must be the limit! )I won't waste type on my parenting skills as I don't need to!!!

Any answer about the sweetener issue devon?

Hi have no problem with a little sweetner, because the amount i would give in a splash of no additive , artificial colouring type is small and use it when homemade lemon squash not avaiable-they could teach kids that as alternative no additives in that been going on for over 100 years!

Regarding supermarket research- blimey are you afraid of data? friends did actually , not that it matters who did it!

devonvalley
It's actually the bigger picture which is the real issue here...just because a rule was introduced and has been in place for several years (in this case water bottles in classroom) doesn't mean it makes sense. Just because it's a school rule, doesn't mean it's right and cannot be challenged. Most school rules are there for a reason, and do make sense; they can be justified by logical reasons. But children shouldn't need drinks in the classroom on the whole, if they are drinking at break and lunchtime anyway. Any drink at break (as long as it's not water flavoured with gin) is a healthy thing to have. The fact that this thread has so many posts shows that it is a contentious issue (as is the policing of lunchboxes) and it is great that people don't just accept things blindly. It frequently crops up on tes too with a wide variety of opinions from teachers. Ultimately it's not really about what they drink, it's about when they drink.
Incidentally, our head teacher was overheard saying to a pupil on his way into school today 'That's not very healthy is it?' about the biscuit he was munching (in the playground, not the building). It's over the top and out of order and he shouldn't behave in such a judgemental way towards a child.

thanks bullethead , parents are writing letters to Governers to ask for official ok for dilute squash or flavoured water on basis of governments initiative of keeping kids hydrated, together with permission to search issue, will post results when have them.

Devonvalley,

I think it's you who has tunnel vision. I have replied to your OP three times. I doubt you've even read my responses.

You aren't looking for, or interested in reasonable opinions, you are looking for validation. When reasonable people refuse to validate your ridiculous suggestion that children should be allowed squash in the classroom you call them judgmental.

As your child grows up you are going to be faced with more and more rules - they have them in schools you see.

I would suggest you home school you precious, otherwise you are going to end up a neurotic mess by the time he completes his A Levels.

That was a nasty post by PadmeHum.

But she's hidden the thread now, after her vicious words. How cowardly.

Why shouldn't a child who can't drink water, have weak squassh in teh classroom, seeing as his family is working toward him having plain water? Why is that a problem?

It sounds like there are some pro-active parents at the school - and I think to go to the governors will at least get it discussed openly at the next meeting which is a good thing. If they weren't drinking in class it wouldn't matter what they drank anyway! Frankly I'd be annoyed even if just water was spilt on my book - it would make it smudge and the pages would warp.

The trouble is that if one child has a little bit of squash, another child might want their water with a little bit too, and then the whole rule gets distorted. I have seen many friend's children who are fussy at home, but will go along with any food/drink given at school.

At my son's nursery they only have water, but the staff fill up the bottles themselves, and none of the children, even the ones who are fussy at home have any problems with this.

The school may only do this until they know the bottles are only filled with water.

I am not a coward Jiggerpopery. I was quite frustrated at the fact that I took the time to post several very reasonable posts which the OP totally ignored. I would willingly stand here and try to put my point across all day long - if I thought that it would even, for one second be considered. As I said in my last post, I doubt the OP has even considered any of the posts which don't automatically agree with her.

In answer to your question

A: Because it's against the rules! No brainer.

What utter nonsense

Frankly, parents who won't follow school rules (which are designed for the health and wellbeing of children) are an absolute menace.

Pity the poor teachers and head who has to put up with this sort of behaviour from parents.

Praise be Quattrocento speaks sense.

I am not sure what about Padmehum's post was "nasty". It seemed pretty accurate to me!

devon wrote: "Hi have no problem with a little sweetner, because the amount i would give in a splash of no additive , artificial colouring type is small and use it when homemade lemon squash not avaiable-they could teach kids that as alternative no additives in that been going on for over 100 years!" but I am afraid I don't understand your syntax.

That is probably a bit "nasty" but also true.

I have considered other views, but they are just that! At the end of the day it matters not what anyone else thinks,its just nice to know we can voice our differing opinions! I am just protecting my son from being bullied into drinking 'water only' until he is ready and making parental choices until that time comes which should be soon. The very fact that all my children drink water, except ds just yet , as do I and dh and we all naturally took to it! Its great we are all individuals including children!!!
Chill out now all- blimey I was very cross at time of posting originally, but come to conclusion that we will do what we think is best for our family and that is all that matters.
Thanks for all your positive and negative posts so far, could not answer individually 200+posts! have commitments just like you all! and ironing pile still looks like a supporting wall!

[rolls eyes] at "bullied into drinking water"

LOL