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

My DC have access to jugs of water and cups in their classroom and water fountains. They are allowed to drink at break and between lessons as far as I know. Seems fine to me.

I am a secondary science teacher, and drinking is not allowed in my room. You'd think the poor children were about to shrivel up there and then without constant sipping. And our last trainee too

We do if a parent repeatedly tsends squash in a bottle for class use, they can have it in lunchboxes but in class it's water. They need a container to drink the water from, so it's emptied and refilled.
Parents don't like it, they can go to one of the several other schools nearby with less strict rules.

goblinchild... I take it this is a bit of an ishoo at your school?

we have the same system as hulababy

We have a Moral Majority of parents here that could eat Dwarf Bread (discworld ref)
So any Johnny-come-lately who wants to rock the boat and send in squash with peanut butter sandwiches for lunch will face the playground court.

What's the difference between technically illegal and illegal?

"The whole water thing is nonsense: if they have a drink at breakfast, something at lunchtime then something when they get home, surely their wee brains aren't going to shrivel up?"

Errr - actually that's not really adequate at all. If I only had a drink at breakfast, another at lunch and another in the late afternoon I would be parched! Don't know about your dc but mine are quite physical and active (ds plays football every break time) which requires more hydration

says here as a rough guide children should have 6-8 drinks a day

OP - don't know why it has to be so complicated. Our school like many others described here encourage parents to send child in with a named water bottle which goes home with the book bag every day...

But the school day only runs from around 9-3 ish for children.

Children are able to drink more than one drink at breakfast, lunch and mid-afternoon.

So: breakfast 8:15 drink at home
break 10:30 water fountain at school
lunch 12:30 lunch drink
1:00 another drink before afternoon lessons
3:00 or so go home for another drink. (maybe with another one half way through the afternoon.
Then they can drink all evening to their hearts' content.

Blimey, it's hardly Dafur, is it?

Goblin - that doesn't contradict my point but sort of reinforces it? - the child gets home from school by say 3.30/4pm and if primary age is heading to bed around 7pm? ..and he/she has only had 2 drinks by now; a drink at breakfast and at lunch with no water bottle in school? Seems a bit skewed to have to fit in another 4/5 drinks in that 3.5 hours and have only had 2 drinks in total so far (at breakfast and lunch) in the longer 8 hour period 7am - 3pm.

Drink at breakfast,
parent could give them a drink at school before we start,
water fountain at break,
drink in lunchbox,
drink at pickup time,
drink with tea
and then sit with a bottle in their mouths til bed time if they want to.

Who said this about 6 drinks per day anyway? Food has water in it - fruit has a high water content; most people eat cereal with milk.
What size should each of these drinks be?
Surely children are little adults who can be trusted to know when they're thirsty? Isn't thirst a basic human sensation contraolled by the hypothalamus?

I was specifically addressing Euphemia's point as she was saying drinking at breakfast and at lunch (and no other time during the school day) was sufficient. It isn't

Great Ormond Street did Oldbatteryhen! I expect you know better though

Oh, OK

No worries

Ds's infant school supplied a good quality (and free) water bottle.

In reception, parents tended to check it had water in at the beginning of the day, from y1, the children did it themselves.

Bottles are kept on the children's tables (in the sort of basket that the milk man uses) so children had complete access during lesson time.

Teachers sent them home on Friday for us to wash. Never saw any sign of green or mould from only a week's use.

Could parents association fund a water bottle for every child if school can't afford?

Ds1 still uses his in y4 at junior school where children just encouraged to bring their own water bottle in and occasionally i remember to ask him to bring it home so I can wash it.

OP - my DS's school provides the water bottles. They each have a number burned into the plastic top and a list is provided with a number next to each child's name. They get rinsed, tops washed and filled each day and put in the dishwasher to sterilise at least once a week by whoever is available to do that (often parent helpers).

It know it is seen by the teacher that very thirsty children can be uncomfortable and will be distracted from learning by that fact. I like my DS's class A LOT

Good luck, Anonymousbird.

It depends on the size of the drink. Have a big glass of milk at breakfast. Carton of milk or water mid-morning. Free water is unlimited at lunch time at many schools in my neck of the woods. DRink as much as you want between the hours of 3.30 and 7.30.

I see no problem.

sorry, only just read the whole thread through, skimmed it before I posted.

Batteryhen, the ds's infant school is pretty strict and they seem to cope with children drinking during lessons, so I can't believe it's beyond the wit of any other teacher to cope.

I work in office and have coffee, glass of water on my desk most of the time. It's just there, it's not disruptive, i drink when I'm thirsty. Children who are given free access to water are going to get used to it and not think of it as a source of entertainment or amusement. I daresay the ones that get up every 5 mins to refill their waterbottle are soon told to stop being so silly.

Am amazed that its not common practice everywhere for children to have a water bottle in the classroom. It takes all sorts!

Many children never tire of skiving off to the toilet or water fountain.

So true. And they get miffed when I won't let them do that in my lesson either...

'Batteryhen, the ds's infant school is pretty strict and they seem to cope with children drinking during lessons, so I can't believe it's beyond the wit of any other teacher to cope.'

Afraid it's beyong mine. IMHO it's an invitation for the procrastinators to do their thing; it creates a disturbance in the room for children and the teacher; and it's an invitation for several other children to decide that having a drink is a good idea.

Mine do have bottles in the classroom for use at breaktime - just most choose to leave them to stagnate, and to use water fountains instead. Suits me fine.

I can see the problem with children drinking during actual lesson time as that is disruptive (unless as one poster said that the bottles were on the table - but my son's Class 1 is more fluid so they change places constantly), but once the rules are set and adhered to, they learn to have a drink before or wait until afterwards. My DS's teacher has no problems with providing the bottles then making the rules and sticking to them.