Our primary school has banned the toilet except at set times!

[dinny]

Madness, surely this can't be legal??? Tehy are only allowed in the morning, at break time, lunch time and then before they go home

this is in response to some boy escaping last week when he went to the loo

have never herad anything so bonkers!

Message withdrawn

Fairly sure it was the same when I was at primary school - especially from about age 9 or so.
Definitely the case at senior school

is it mad?

imagine if your workplace told you to have set loo breaks - they'd never be allowed, would they?

A supply teacher did this to DS's class in Yr1.
At least 3 kids wet themselves.

lol at peeing like mice

applies to the whole school, infants and jnrs, apparently

did your dc tell you this or was it in a letter home?

lol at 'escaping'

yes, someone has just wet themselves today, I hadn't even heard about this new ruling till now....

has been announced in assembly, apparently

wonder if it'll be in newsletter

Dinny, not allowing children access to toilets is a big deal and a health issue. I was proofreading a bit of (very unglamorous) research on this, and can point you in the direction of the Bog Standard campaign and Nickie Brander. Also ERIC. If you google you will start to find useful things to back up your point. For example:

Question: what aspect of school life is a haven for bullies, a source of depression for many pupils, and has the ability to cause not only a range of health problems but also reduced concentration in lessons?

The answer is badly maintained school toilets - or bad policies regarding toilet use, such as not allowing pupils easy access to them, or denying them privacy or proper facilities such as toilet paper, soap and hand-drying towels or machines. School toilets, according to Nickie Brander of the Bog Standard campaign to improve them, are a national disgrace - and their shortcomings have a huge knock-on effect that's often overlooked by school management teams.

is it legal, Lio?

My workplace gives me limited access to loo breaks. I am a (secondary) teacher. I expect children not to leave my lesson to go to the toilet. I use my discretion of course, but my default position is that they use the toilets at break and lunchtime.

I agree about the state of them. It is shocking. I used to spend a great deal of time policing the girls toilets sadly.

my dd is only 6, though, to me it seems awful and very unfair

I wouldn't expect it for children so young. I even cut my year 7s a bit of slack to start with. While they get in training...

I don't know the legal side but the toilets I've seen are shocking.
No soap because of health and safety reasons - umm? (a boy slipped on it) Just think of all the yucky hands..

Some of the children I used to teach were well known offenders for skiving though and saying they needed a poo when actually they were wandering around school or just faffing around, but no way would I ban them. It's surely wrong if not illegal.

No idea about the legality of it, but if you look at the practicalities, the longest period of time is probably the afternoon for Key Stage 2 (juniors) which would be about 1.00pm ish until 3.00pm ish, so only 2 hours. So, absolutely not unmanageable for most children (unless there are specific bladder/kidney difficulties)

I expect the infants have a break time in the afternoon, so the maximum time is probably no more than 1.5 hours between breaks.

Whilst it's not great practice for Reception and Y1s, as a teacher, I certainly encourage Yr 2 children to start to manage themselves, by expecting them to all go at playtime, lunchtime etc. Obviously, if someone needs to go at other times, then they go, but the expectation is that they will use the breaktimes etc whenever possible.

You can bet your life that the Reception teacher is not sticking to this rule (and the Y1 teacher may not be either!). However, for the rest of the school, it doesn't sound unreasonable to have general guidelines.

Blimey. No way could my 9 year old dd manage that. She has no specific bladder problems but up until the age of 7 she couldn't go more than an hour during the day without needing the loo (even now I know she has to go during class times even though she goes during the breaks too).

Can understand the reasoning but I think they will be giving themselves a whole other headache tbh.

I think it means they won't drink enough water too, in case they need the loo

I think it means they won't drink enough water too, in case they need the loo

How did a boy escape when he went to the loo? Doesnt sound like the school has very good security. They need to address that rather than putting in ths ridiculous rule.

Dinny you are spot on: some kids don't drink enough and can get bladder problems as a result.

it is a nightmare when kidsa re going to the toilet throughout lessons all day. don't see the problem - if they have to go, then fair enough, but a lot of kids just use it as an excuse to get out of the lesson for a few minutes. Juniors - def could wait. Infants - if you really have to go, then go. otherwise, wait until the end of the lesson or breaktime.

apparently, the toilets are the thing most kids hate the most about school. lots of them "hang on" till they get home, which must cause lots of health problems.

I remember getting a finger trapped in a closing door in one of the cubicles at primary school & that put me off using the loos for ages!