‘Pupils out of class going to the toilet is a safeguarding issue’

[Tobermory]

Secondary teachers- you share your opinion about this ?
My DD y8, has periods most month 😕 and I’ve queried toilet passes with school. School sometimes use toilet passes but mainly discourage chn going to the loo mid lesson. I do understand this.
Her form teacher has emailed me back and used safeguarding as a reason for the schools reluctance to use toilet passes.
“It can lead to safeguarding issues around school “

Surely really what they’re talking about is stopping bad behaviour. Reducing oppprtunities for this... but would you describe this as safeguarding?

I’m not complaining about school, her form teacher is great and suggested an alternative solution. I’m just pondering this use of the phrase

[Tobermory]

@cohle, obviously I’m well aware of safeguarding issues but when a child in my class needs to go
To the toilet... they ask and they go.
We don’t have toilet passes.
We don’t limit access to toilets re. Safeguarding

[snowybaubles]

@HarrietTheFly

You are right. That was stupid of me to say earlier. Nobody should be stopped from going to the toilet.

[FeckaDecka]

Yabu. Teachers can't go to the loo when they want neither can the kids move on and your daughter needs to grow up and go when they are allowed like the rest of them.

[LaserShark]

I absolutely agree those kids need a lot of other support, but it’s not happening I’m afraid. There is a mental health crisis in schools and there are not the services in place to help. I regularly had pupils who had attempted suicide and were back in lessons on a mammoth waiting list for counselling. Schools are properly fucked and unless you have been responsible for thirty four teenagers, accountable for their safety along with their progress and behaviour then you really don’t know what difficult choices and scenarios are being encountered with no support available for staff or students alike.

[LaserShark]

And I always did let girls go to be honest, because I figured the likelihood of them flooding on their period was more likely than the harm that could come to them - but it wasn’t guaranteed and I certainly did have some girls go walkabout.

[Fraggling]

'your daughter needs to grow up'

Because suddenly getting your period and bleeding through your clothes is a sign of immaturity, and it's right that girls be punished by having to spend the day like that in front of all the other girls and boys.

Fucking victorian.

[MrsPelligrinoPetrichor]

Most women have periods most months, OP they don't and teen-agers are very likely to have irregular periods initially.

I think there should be toilet passes, fgs it's bad enough trying to cope with periods at school let alone not being able to dash to the loo when needed.

[Fraggling]

And yet lots of women on this thread have said that girls must predict /manage and if they end up covered in blood then that's their problem.

I kind of feel like some people don't really like girls very much? Or at least don't like accommodating their needs. Like female biology is their own fault and if they can't deal they're bad people.

[FeckaDecka]

If your daughters are flooding sanitary towels ever hour they should be in A&E not in school. Otherwise stay in lessons.

[Cohle]

I think that's a little unfair. Young girl's periods can be unpredictable and they are much less experienced at coping with them than adult women.

I know my DD was really nervous about leaks etc even if they never actually occurred. I don't think that sort of anxiety puts girls in the best state for learning.

[stickerqueen]

posterFeckaDecka not the case my dd has heavy periods and needs to change her heavy flow towel roughly every 50 minutes. I was concerned and took her to the gp and was told it's nothing to worry about.

[FeckaDecka]

@stickerqueen really? I would've thought it's not the norm for that age! And there's a medical issue? Obviously you keep her at home then or she's issued a toilet card.

[Fraggling]

You can't keep girls at school for days every month because they have heavy periods.

Do you genuinely see that as an acceptable solution to normal female biology. For girls to miss large parts of their education.

I'm really disgusted by some attitudes on this thread. There are charities for other countries where girls miss school due to periods. And here we have some women driving hard for that to be the case here too.

Genuinely rancid ideas. And based in female biology as fundamentally problematic, rather than normal. Same old same old, from women in 2019 rather than men in 1919 it's particularly shit though.

[reginafelangee]

@FeckaDecka why on earth should a girl be confined to her home because she is menstruating?

[Fraggling]

Because the natural order of things is that what works for males is default,

And if girls and women can't fit in this systems they should be opted out.

[hazeyjane]

Christ on a bike, FeckaDecka, you're a peach aren't you.

[PlinkPlink]

It is I'm afraid.

I'm going to give a rather extreme example but the school I used to work at had a suicide recently.

They found her in the school toilets. It was devastating to hear of her passing. She was so shy and kind, but also fiery in her own way.

So, that's an extreme example but think of other things kids get up to - self harm, smoking, drinking etc. Kids can do loads of stuff in there because it's generally respected as a reasonably private space.

[Fraggling]

There must be a middle ground which allows for the natural biological needs of female students to be met.

A blanket ban, even in primary schools, when very young girls are trying to get to grips with periods is simply not fair on them.

Girls bleeding through their clothes because they aren't allowed to go and deal.

It is so, I don't know. It feels wrong and can in itself have negative consequences.

[stickerqueen]

@posterFeckaDecka no medical problem causing her heavy periods.
She does not miss school for her periods if she did she would miss at least 2 days a month her attendance would be crazy.
when it's the time of the month she has to tell someone in welfare office and they allow her to use the toilet between lessons.
to eliminate accidents in school she will wear a towel when her periods due incase it comes during lesson.

[stickerqueen]

op can you dd use the toilets between lessons? if not could you ask?
I know in my dd's school they are not normally allowed to use the toilets between lessons but I come to an agreement with them once i explained dd had heavy periods

[Tobermory]

Some of the responses here are just crazy. And sad. That for some posters there’s so little understanding

I think for me it’s this From @Fraggling

”There must be a middle ground which allows for the natural biological needs of female students to be met.”
One day one and two her periods so far have been v heavy. And it’s during these days that there is a risk of leaks if she only goes during break time. So where is the balance between safeguarding and her needs?

@stickerqueen, the compromise appears to be for her form tutor to email DDs teachers to ask that if she asks to go to the toilet mid lesson (which she doesn’t generally) that they let her go.

[Penyu]

I read this article on the TES just today, it's by an English teacher about how she has to manage her period during school.
For people arguing about how bad things can get for some people, it's worth a read.
How a tween can cope with a similar situation in addition to being told they have only a few minutes between lessons or even during break time while they try to get from one side of the school to another.... It's crazy.

And the safeguarding issues mentioned in secondary, wow. I can't believe teachers have to consider all of those things (I do believe you).
I am a primary teacher, and when kids in my class need to go... They just go. No pass etc.

www.tes.com/news/why-arent-we-talking-about-menstrual-flooding

[YourOpinionIsNoted]

I worked in secondary as a teacher for twelve years. Toilet breaks in lessons never referred to as a blanket safeguarding issue. In schools where there has been a strict "no" policy it has been for behaviour management reasons. I've sometimes had individual students we can't let out of lessons ever as they may present a danger to themselves or others, but that's rare and done on a case by case basis.

Girls should be allowed to deal with their periods.