Water bottles available in school...?

[Anonymousbird]

A common complaint at our school is that the children come out at 3 absolutely gasping. I know they have access to water at various points through the day, but not sure they are "made" to drink IYSWIM. there are also fountains in the playground.

A parent has suggested water bottles being available all day in their classrooms. Her idea is that these would need to be allocated/filled/taken back to the kitchen each day for filling by teachers in the infants (juniors should be able to do this themselves on a rota basis). I think we would need to name the bottles or somehow differentiate them to avoid too much cross contamination.

I am in a position to bring some influence to bear on the subject and am in agreement that some solution to them not drinking enough needs to be found.

What arguments am I going to come up against from the school (because I know I will!) Clearly there is the cost of the bottles (one off), then the cost of loading, washing and drying for the following day by one of the kitchen staff (presumably).

Does anyone else have experience, good or bad, of such a scheme in their school and how it worked/what objections there might have been?

Thanks

at our school the parents send the kids in with a water bottle each day. Water bottle kept in classroom, sent home, rinsed sent in again. No overhead for teaching staff who have better things to do with their time than wash 30 water bottles.

Teachers can't be asked to fill water bottles. It is against our terms and conditions to be asked tondo anything that doesn't require a teachers expertise.

Children at our school bring their own labelled water bottles, they leave them there and bring them home once or twice a week for parents to wash. It seems to work well.

Water bottles can be expensive so the school have sourced cheap bottles which can be bought from them for £1 (with no profit to the school) which i think is reasonable.

I don't think the school should be responsible for all the washing and drying etc. IMHO.

can teachers really not put water in a water bottle :S that's a bit mad

I work in a Y1 class, within an infant school. All children bring in their own clear/transparent water bottles, which are supposed to be names (usually are tbf). They can be filled up at home, from the classroom tap, or fromt he water fiter machines - we have two in school.

We sell water bottls witht he school logo on at school, but other transparent ones can be brought in from home too.

Only water is allowed - hence being clear bottles only.

The bottles are then stored in the classroom. We have a big blue tray the children put them iin at the back of the classroom.

We do not remind children to drink from them. It is up to them whether they do or not. However if a child is complaining of a headache or feeling warm we do advise them to have a sip of water then. They do not take them out of the classroom on the whole either and definitely not out at playtime.

Children can go and get a drink as and when, but with some restrictions once in ks1 (reception is different here)

• no getting up during learning time at the carpet
• if working with a teacher/ta/grown up, you ask permission before getting up
• not near computers
• take a drink near where they are kept, no walking off with them

They can be taken to the carpet during snack time for those who don't have milk.

If children don't have a water bottle then they have to use the fountains outside, but these are not accessible in class time. We do hve the odd plastic disposible cup fr emergencies but don't offer these out generally.

We remind children every so often to take them home to clean and always send them home at the end of each half term. As the TA if I think they are looking stale or a bit grim I sometimes, if I have some spare time, I will give them a rinse out.

Water bottles in from home here too. And at all the other primary schools I have any knowledge of.

We did move last year to a new area, where fewer children take water to school, and were a bit or at least to see that many were bringing in squash.

If you have any influence at all, I'd suggest making it clear from the start that it should be water only in the bottles, or they will be tipped out.

The new school did try supplying bottles and keeping them in class, but it was a disaster, because as mnistooaddivtive says, teachers (or TAs) have better things to be doing with their time. Then the bottles melted in the d/w at home.

I believe DD's school is similar. She takes in a water bottle and brings it home every so often. he's 8y though and takes responsibility for her own. She keeps it in her drawer.

there was two fountains at our school the dcs didnt like to use as they thought people put their mouths around it rather than catch the stream so they didnt drink they didnt have a scheme like that but on a previous post mns were complaining they never cleaned these bottles although they were meant to, a
at our school the dcs were asked to take a extra bottle of water in which i used to but some teachers wouldnt let them have it when they asked even though was the schools policy to have drinking water available at all times in class and a lot of teachers used to put them on the window ledge so they were too warm in summer when you would need it most... im not sure theres a good conclusion to this one it was /is always a worry to me in the summer months especially, what i do now is i freeze a bottle of water for each of my dcs so it takes most of day to melt (a large sports bottle) but the scheme you mention ive only read on here about no actual personal exp

I don't know if providing bottles for the kids would really help - from what you say, water is easily available and the real problem seems to be that the children are not being encouraged to drink. just giving them a bottle of water would not solve this!

My dc take their own bottles in and bring them home each night for a wash/refill.

They can also refill during the day from the water fountain if needs be.

I think children being asked to bring in their own labelled water bottles is fair enough, but they should be reminded to take them home EVERY night for washing. Once or twice a week a week doesn't seem enough to me if they are used every day and not washed at school either. The children do need to be reminded to take them home, or they tend to forget and leave them at school.

DS was given a water bottle by the school in reception - TA or teacher fills it each day and it gets washed out each evening at school and comes home for a blast in the dishwasher at the weekend. Not sure what happens in KS2, but the system seems to work out ok for the younger kids.

Thanks for all the comments.

I believe that the "bring your own" option has been completely vetoed previously, though before my time so not aware of the reasoning.

Am going to make some points from what you say, thank you, to put forward my argument for either bring your own or school supply....

And yes, it of course needs teacher support/encouragement, especially in the infants I think!

We provide a water bottle for each child in the school which is kept in the class and can be drunk from at reasonable times during the day ( eg not when I'm in the middle of explaining the finer points of rotation in 4 quadrants but when you are at your table working it out!) Each bottle and lid is labelled with the childs initials and each year group has a different coloured lid so they can't be mixed up! The bottles are filled each morning and emptied each evening by the "water bottle monitors" and run through the dishwasher each evening. Children can fill them up individually if they so wish.

We have the same system as Hulababy throughout the school, and children are reminded to drink through the day.
They take the bottles home at the end of the day, or whenever they remember. Children can refill them at break or lunchtime.

The bring your own option is reinforced, water only.
TAs check this by pouring out squash and juice and refilling the bottle.
The children can have other drinks in their lunchboxes.

My DSs school provides you with a school water bottle when they start (if you loose you pay) you take it home each day wash and refill. In the classroom they are in a caddy in the middle of the table, they are encouraged to drink as much as possible each day, even having points where the teacher says time to drink. Most days my DS brings home an empty water bottle. The school says that since they introduced them the kids concentrate better in the afternoons as they aren't all gasping, especially the older ones that get no afternoon break.

My DD''s school allows them to have access to their (own, brought from home) water bottles all day. They bring a filled water bottle in (named), it is kept in a plastic box during the day and they are allowed access as and when. There's no way I could go all day with only being able to drink at designated times, plus the benefits of staying well hydrated are clearly publicised so I think it's in the school's interests to allow them to drink when they need to.

I made a stand against my kids having a school water bottle as the plastic they were made from was the type you shouldn;t use over and over again so be very careful about what sort of bottles you recommend.

My kids have metal bottles too as I don't think bottles which light can get to or heat the water easily are good.

If parents think it is an issue why can;t they supply their own bottles for thier kids and take them and wash them at night rather than it be the school's responsibility

My DD's school provides a water bottle in reception, then spare lids and bottles are available to buy as and when. They are brought home every night for a wash and refill and kept on the side Y1/table Y2.

The children concentrate much better when they're hydrated!

DS takes a bottle with a drink in every day, he has some with morning fruit, the rest with afternoon snack ( YR so only young). Every child brings in own bottle daily and takes them home daily. in YR nothing has been specified about contents of bottle so boy has water or squash randomly.

We have a bring your own in policy, the school sells them but most people supply their own, there doesn't seem to be any restriction on type, but only water is allowed. The children take them home each day for washing. I think in YR and maybe Yr1 the TA refills them, older children refill their own. The children are allowed them at designated times, and reminded to have a drink. If they are doing outdoor PE on hot days they all get taken out in their crate. I have never heard anyone complain about any aspect of this in the playground.

At our school children bring in their own bottle and it is taken home each night for a wash and a refill, children can refill the bottles if needed through the day from the class room sink. They are allowed to drink when they want (again like others within reason, if the teacher is explaining what they need to do, carpet time and the such like they are asked to wait and then can go and drink afterwards), the bottles are kept in trays away from windows and heaters.
I much prefer our system to one where the school were responsible for cleaning and filling as I would rather the school staff do their core jobs rather then spend their time dealing with water bottles, I also much prefer being able to choose what type of bottle my dd has (we have metal ones as keeps the water fresh longer and cooler, nothing worse then water that has that plastic taste!).
Our school are well aware of the benefits of keeping children well hydrated, it maybe prudent for you to seek out and print out a few of the many published studies to do with the connection between hydration and class room performance to take into any meetings you have on the matter, I would find out why the idea of home supplied bottles was ruled out last time as I would imagine you would have a better response from staff if you are not suggesting adding to their workload!

We have water bottles in the classroom and children can access them at appropriate points throughout the day (i.e. not in the middle of some teaching input). We remind them to have a drink after each playtime and if they appear hot, etc. It's the same at my DCs school and it all seems to work well.
I helped set all this up at my last school and it was HUGE headache. We canvased parents and came to the policy of water in clear, sports-capped bottles stored in the table tidies. Parents wanted to provide their own; fine. So ... set it all up.
In my classroom on the whole it works fine, but about 25% of each class forget / aren't provided with a bottle, so we provide plastic cups in the shared art area sink. These parents complained because we wouldn't let children keep the cups on the table.
Next aggro. Parents sending no-sports cap and children trying to drink from the lids like little cups or putting them in their mouths.... cue constant vigilance from staff distracting us from teaching. Other children sit with the bottle constantly in their mouth, without drinking, just sucking or chewing it.
Then I had a petition from the playground because their children didn't like water, so they had to have squash or fruit juice. Sorry, no, too messy when it gets spilt, we agreed to other drinks by the art sink, but not on tables. So a formal letter of complaint to governors. Governors agreed only water, so the parents started sending in opaque bottles so we couldn't see it was juice. I must say I was a little pleased when one of these children spilt their bottle on a brand new best book from home and it got spoilt! But that was my fault as far as the dad was concerned.
As you can guess that was a school where parents expected to control everything and disregard policies if they didn't like it.
SO... Yes I think you should put the issue forward. Reseacrh shows good hydration is crucial to optimum brain function and concentration, as well as other health issues, so I'd use that as an argument. I'm not sure, but I think it's in the Healthy Schools criteria, so that could also add weight. But do set a policy and keep a firm reign on it, especially if you have parents like my last school, so it snowballs and takes over!

Blimey, never realised this could be so controversial.

Dd's class (R - no idea about rest of school) they have school provided water bottles. They can pretty much fill them themselves, tho I had to ask the TA to make sure dd did at the beginning because she was coming home dehydrated everyday.

No idea how often they get washed. A mum has recently started making sure they get done once a week - which on reflection is a good thing!

I think I spent most of my school career dehydrated, don't think we even had water fountains in my primary! I always had headaches (and wasn't really great at eating which didn't help). I think it's great that in theory dd can stay hydrated even if she needs a little help with the practicalities!