Periods in Primary School

[Scrumpy132]

Hi everyone

This is my first post on this site.

I am a school nurse, and am seeing increasing numbers of girls starting periods in year 4 onwards.

I am concerned that the majority of schools in my area don't seem to have any sanitary disposal bins or supplies of towels etc. in the girls toilets in primary school. Some of the girls have spoken to me about this, and the embarrassment they feel in having to carry their towels out of the toilets and disposing of them in the general waste, and the worry that somebody will see it in the bin and tease them.

I am going to speak to all the schools and local authority in my area, to persuade them that toilets for the older girls need sanitary bins in each cubicle, and preferably with sanitary products supplied for them in case they unexpectedly start their period.

One teacher said to me that girls having periods are permitted to use the staff toilets, however I don't feel this is acceptable either, and certainly not inclusive.

I need to find out if it is commonplace everywhere to not give these facilities to primary school girls. Can any parents/teachers tell me if their primary schools provide these facilities?

Thanks ina dvance.

I can't tell you about my DDs' primary school but I can tell you that, some years ago, my father, then a primary school headmaster, got into trouble with his LA for ordering sanitary bins for the girls' toilets in his school. He was told that the girls could use the staff toilets or use the one in the medical room which had a disposal bin for medical dressings etc. He refused and went ahead with ordering the bins, as he said that:
a)his staff deserved to have a private toilet that was not used by the children they taught and
b) children did not have easy access to the area the staff toilet and medical room were in, and he was not going to embarrass those girls who had started their periods by making them seek out a staff member to be allowed to use those facilities.

Go dad!

i'm pretty sure dd1's junior school had sanitary facilities... certainly from y3 it was accepted that some of the girls would have periods and they tailored the curriculum accordingly from an advice and information pov.

it seems v sensible. if it isn't policy it should be. i don't know about here... i'll ask the girls later.

Scrumpy, I don't know (DD only 5) but well done for raising this. Even at our secondary school there were no bins - only an incinerator by the washbasins in the public bit of the loos. Mortifying obviously. I don't remember ever using it - don't know what I did exactly (can't remember) but I certainly wasn't going to waltz out to the washbasins and use the incinerator.

At DDs (small) school the girls who have started their periods use the staff toilets during lesson time, which seems to make sense for them as it's much more private there than the cubicle-style girls loos which are busy at break-times and have girls as young as 5 in there.

Year 4. That is so young - poor girls. DD's primary school certainly had no facilities. I don't think most girls toilets in primary schools are designed and built with this in mind. I think your idea is an excellent one. Pehaps you could start a petition. I would sign it even though DD is 11, at high school and showing no sign of being ready yet.

My Mum's primary school certainly does have them and has had them for at least 5 years. It might make it slightly easier for them as it infants and juniors are accommodated in separate complexes on the same site (it's an amalgamated infants & junior school).
I teach at a secondary school & was told by another member of staff ( I have NOT checked if this is accurate) we could be picked up by Ofsted for allowing pupils to use staff loos. I think you are required to make appropriate provision as part of safeguarding. If my colleague was right about this then it might help your case.

Local school uses teachers loo as the pupil cubicles are too small to fit bins into

As its a small school I can't see a way round this but do hope when dd starts ( year 5 but it won't be long) that she is not teased after being seen to go into staff loo.

Another Downside of using pupil loos is the lack of sound proofing and the 'what are you doing in there' questions.

School does have a good range of Tampax teen towels and tampons though that they get from the school office from a wonderful receptionist who calms everyone :)

Thanks everyone for your comments, they are all really helpful.

It seems to vary, after an email out to my colleagues, in the county I work there seems to be massive variation amongst localities.

The staff loos are not really acceptable for a number of reasons, including safeguarding, privacy of teachers, it being obvious to other children in the know why the child is using the staff toilet, singling out, and not an enduring solution.

Obviously a lot of schools were built when puberty generally started later, cubicles are too small for bins, lack of resources etc. but even the provision of bags and a yellow bagged small pedal bin in the loos would be better than nothing.

Just because there have never been bins, and things have always been like that, doesn't mean it can't change for the future, particularly as the demand seems to be increasing as puberty gets younger.

I happen to know that DD's primary now provides facilities, because the girls in her class all had a talk about it from the teacher.

I was a bit that the bin wasn't there anyway tbh, as plenty of girls will start periods in yr 5/6; DD is in yr 6 now and a number of her friends (maybe 4-5) have started. It is a junior school btw which makes it all the more surprising they were not sorted before as no issues re 5yos using loos etc.

I agree OP, sounds like a good idea to speak to schools and LA.

All toilets on the junior school side at dd's primary have sanitary bins. I never realised that some schools didn't tbh I think I just took it for granted.

I think the bin must be in the disabled loo at DCs' school.

Our facilities are in the disabled toilet. Girls who are using it are not questioned and there is a disposal bin and also spare sanitary towels in there.

I agree that provision of facilities should be the norm in schools. We have one girl whose mum told us about her periods but we also have suspicions about one or two more. This way they have privacy without having to tell us if they don't want to.

We have them in our upper-juniors toilets (we are a large school so have several sets of toilets), if a girl in Year 4 needed to use them then it is easy for them without them being 'noticed'. We also keep a stock of towels in the medical room, and let the children know this when teaching about periods.