One student said that the school felt like “a prison.”
Female students at a secondary school in Weymouth have been left furious after being told to “hold in” their periods during lessons.
Students at the All Saints Academy, Wyke Regis, are also apparently required to show a doctor’s note during a lesson if they want to use the toilet, with the doors to the bathrooms having been removed as well.
This is according to the mum of a student at the school.
She said she was “horrified” by the rules, as going to the toilet is a time “when you actually need complete privacy.”
She told the Sun: “My daughter said ‘what about us girls when we have our period, if we have an accident and we need to get to the taps, not only have we got teachers walking past and students, but any visitors to the school’.
“She said ‘we don’t feel comfortable going to the bathroom’. She said ‘it’s not school anymore mum, it feels like prison.'”
The mum, who wished to remain anonymous, said that on one occasion her daughter and her friend were told to “hold in” their periods and female students need a note to say when they are on their period.
She said: “Just before my daughter finished year eight, one of the teachers said that when the girls are on their periods, apparently, they need to hold it in because they are not babies and should be able to hold their bladders.
“I was shocked, I just thought that can’t be possible. For one thing, you can’t hold it in when you’re menstruating, and my daughter said it was a female teacher that spoke to them. She should know what it’s like.”
The school has said that all toilet cubicles have full height doors and that the changes to the facilities are part of a plan to improve them.
The school principal, John Cornish, has said that the only area visible through the toilet door was the hand washing area, adding that pupils are encouraged to go to the toilet during lunch and break times so that they get into “good habits with regards to managing their comfort breaks.”
Those with medical conditions requiring them to visit the toilet more are given a toilet card allowing them to go during lessons if “absolutely necessary.”
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