Am sure dd1 is lying. But, just to put my mind completely at rest, is there any way in this world that a teacher would have told her

[fryalot]

she can't do swimming if she is having a period because it is unhygienic?

It was one of the things that came up when we had the period chat - that if you use tampons you can carry on swimming if you want to. So she knows that it is ok.

I shall assume that she was in fact not lying on this occasion and chat to her about it on that level.

Thanks everyone.

Am most surprised, as I said, but quite heartened that she may actually not be the devious little madam I originally presumed

I shall also let her know that if she doesn't want to, then this is also ok.

As long as she is honest with me about the reason

That sounds like a good plan

How old is her teacher.Some older people do thimk that

teachers at my school used to let you not swim if you were having your period. Nobody said it was unhygenic, and tbh it was nice not having to - I never wanted to swim in my teenage years when on my period.