School Water Bottle

[BreezyGreenRobin]

Could somebody please help me with where I stand. My daughter is in year 2 at a state primary school. Her school has a very strict uniform policy and the children are required to have lots of items with the school logo on them. The school ask that all children use a standard school water bottle which is made of plastic and has the school logo on. As a family we are trying to reduce our use of plastic container for all of our food and drinks. I have therefore sent her into school with a plain white metal water bottle. I must add that nowhere in any of the school's policies does it state that the school logo bottles are mandatory, the head teacher has said that this is a verbal policy. I have now had several emails from my child's class teacher and the head teacher stating that her water bottle is not regulation and she is not allow to drink out of the one I have sent in throughout the day this includes during PE lessons. All other children are allowed their bottles on their tables during lessons and to take them to PE. I have raised my concerns regarding micro plastics with the head teacher and was simply told that this is not an issues. The chair of governor's has said that she is not able to get involved.

What can I do?

stand firm. hold the line!
I hate plastic bottles too and sugar free foods with chemicals that schools force on kids!

What's with all the 'secretion' talk its disgusting. where have you picked this up? Is this school nonsense talk or work nonsense talk?

It needs to stop. Let's not make this a thing.

School is being ludicrous and I would be really cross . A metal bottle is not dangerous to other children.

State Schools are not supposed to mandate strict uniform rules any more - you should be permitted to offer a reasonable alternative.

Tell the HT if the concern is contents not being water, then happy for your dc to take it in empty and fill it in school once she arrives at registration.

That is their policy. Change the school if you are not happy.

Don't forget the parents marching in to complain that their child's £40 water bottle has been stolen by another child.

The sound of 30 kids banging their plastic water bottles on the table at the same time is torture enough. That is definitely be another reason why metal isn't the best option for a primary classroom!

Just because she isn't allowed to drink from her metal bottle does not mean she isn't drinking water. Some children do forget to bring their bottle in and there are plastic cups for them to use. Sorry. I used to wash them up, thoroughly.

There is a definite one upmanship on water bottles, branded, personalised, different colours to stand out and the bloody Smiggle ones. Plus numerous ones, different ones on different days because you can't just have one bottle.

If you are going to be that parent then by all means go head to head with the school on this. If your child has school lunches these will usually be served on plastic trays with indents for food. I can understand if this was a single use water bottle issue but it isn't.

@QueenQueef25 parents do put other drinks in the children's bottles, source, I worked in a primary school, lovely blackcurrant mustaches on children when drinking from their black water bottle. You can also smell it on them when they are panting near to you as they have been running around the playground at break.

This is not something you want to dig your heels in about. Just give her the school water bottle to use at school. You can reduce your plastic use in all other ways at home. You have to follow the school policy as it's for the safety of all the children and to make sure they are only bringing water.

There are some rules/laws that are so oppressive that people are justified in defying them directly. Racial segregation springs to mind.

There are others that you just obey, for the sake of harmony. If you feel strongly that about it, you take part in whatever political process is required to get the rule changed, whether that's starting your own national political party, or writing letters to the school governors.

So unless you really think that this is your Rosa Parks moment, I would gently suggest that this case is probably in the second category.

There are all manner of issues that arise in schools from time to time, where parents may need to take a stance. This is not one of them. If this is your only gripe, you’re a very lucky parent Op!

A lot of schools don't allow metal water bottles because the damage they can do if being swung about and hit someone is a lot worse than any damage from a plastic bottle.

No, they won’t. Such abject nonsense.

The LA and Ofsted will “note it”, and advise the parent to follow the schools formal complaints procedure (which should be on the schools website).

Neither get involved in petty bollocks like this.

No we don't, my son just has plain white t shirts and red jumpers from supermarket. Not wasting money on branded when it gets ruined in 5 mins. Primarys can't enforce logos.

It's obviously mad that they insist on a logo'd water bottle but so much of school policy is mad. You could write to the governors formally, they should have a complaints process and refusing your child a drink is dangerous particularly with the weather and when pe is on. My approach is that lots of things at school i disagree with and my childs now yr 5, so honestly I've reached the view that we chose our school including it's mad policies, and if we don't like their policies we can move our children. It's frustrating sometimes, but all schools have some kind of policy or process I'd disagree with and given I don't want to home school, it's probably a life lesson for the kids that sometimes we just have to follow the rules even when nonsensical and even the nicest places/people will have things we dont personally agree with - I don't even know how I feel about that as a life lesson tbh, it feels defeatist but it's that or start writing letters left, right and centre and i feel thats a waste of everyones time and energy. In the grand scheme of things, it's a water bottle, I'd just buy one and save myself the emotional stress of dealing with it all but good on you if you fight them on it (albeit, what a waste of your time over something so small).

The LA and Ofsted will note it, you’re quite right. Then they’ll both contact the headteacher, and the headteacher will have to provide an account of what’s happened, what they’re doing etc. and then provide a follow up response once they have gone back to the parent to actually deal with the complaint that the parent has already made to both the school and governors. My husband is a primary head and when a parent escalates to the LA/Ofsted it becomes a right pain. Things get sorted very quickly once this happens because suddenly the school has to step out of its little bubble and justify the nonsense.

For gods sake just use the school bottle!?!
You clearly have too much time on your hands

Coming at this slightly differently, when I was at school we drank at breakfast, break, lunch, afternoon break and after school. That’s what break was partly for.

I don’t honestly see the need for children to be carting round bottles and slurping on them like oversized babies all day.

You’re making it embarrassing for your child. Pick your battles.

When Air-Ups were popular we had the smelly rings being swapped and stolen and 'MIIIIISSSS, they snuck in at break and drank from my bottle'.

That and the collective size and awkward designs of the competitive water bottles meant they needed far more space and were a pain to take out to break. Standardised bottles fit neatly in a tray or two and can be transported easily.

We are also eliminating plastic as much as possible. Have switched to stainless steel or glass for water bottles / reusable cups / lunch boxes / food storage. Plastic is toxic & we are all consuming a credit card sized amount every week via micro plastics in our food and drink. I would get involved with the PTA & drive change from the inside. If it must be a logo bottle then make it stainless steel.

OP doesn't like her child to consume micro plastics, not that she's concerned about the environmental issues of plastic. People haven't actually read or understood what's been said then make sarcastic comments. School would rather your child go thirsty, which may affect learning, than letting her have a safer water bottle!? Go figure

I agree with you Op. Every push against plastic is a small step.

@mspug Unbelievable the geography teacher who put ping pong balls in the sea. I'd go to the press about that!

This makes no sense. Your dd is y2, so you presumably already have the water bottle, you aren't being asked to buy it. So keeping using it isn't going to create any extra use of plastic?

Ultimately this is not worth fighting. Just use the standard water bottle, you can still avoid plastic in other items.

@elh1605 schools must have a charging and remissions policy. It’s law. They cannot charge for lessons but can for transport.

There is no such thing as a verbal policy. Neither can a child be “punished” for not complying with uniform. This is clearly a micromanaged school. I’m interested in what other parents think. Are they too scared to rock the boat? Do they care about bottles? Probably not. However the school cannot enforce a “policy” they don’t have in writing and certainly cannot punish a child based on this. I would use the complaints policy. If only to get the attention of the governors!

Is this a hill that you want to die on? It’s embarrassing for your child if you make them stand out over this one tiny thing. It’s a reusable bottle after all.