Glass
11th August 2011, 04:19 PM
Anger at school toilet trial
Jewel Topsfield
August 12, 2011
PARENTS are alarmed that children at a primary school in Melbourne's east began wetting themselves after the school tested an approach that discouraged them from going to the toilet in class time.
In the Kew Primary School trial, which parents said was conducted without their knowledge, the entire class would go to the toilet if one child needed to go during a lesson.
One mother, who asked not to be named, said she first became aware of the trial when her child wet herself at the front door. ''I said, 'What happened? She said, 'I'm holding on, I didn't want the whole class to have to come with me to the toilet.' At first when she told me the rule I disbelieved her.''
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Another mother took her high-achieving child to the doctor after she wet herself twice at home.
''She hasn't done this since she was three,'' the mother said. ''There was a kind of ripple effect where parents slowly became aware of changes in their children. Children were complaining of headaches, they were constipated, they weren't drinking water and were coming home with full drink bottles.''
A group of parents wrote to Kew Primary principal Kim Dray, expressing their concern about the trial and citing medical research about the impact of constipation on children.
In an email, obtained by The Age, Dr Dray said the ''whole class'' method of toilet break supervision was ''used successfully by some other schools'' and was being tested by some classes.
''Team leaders met at the end of last week to discuss the trialled approaches, and although you may find this surprising, some commented on a decrease in disruption to class lessons, especially in senior and specialist classes,'' she wrote.
But then
Dr Dray told The Age Kew Primary was a caring school and she would never implement a policy that distressed students. ''It's our priority … to ensure that students are supervised at all times as we exercise our duty of care,'' she said.
''As a result of a few students leaving the toilets in an untidy manner, staff decided to review the way students were supervised while visiting the toilet during class. We trialled three options with different classes over two weeks. One of those involved … a whole-of-class break for stretching as well as an opportunity for children to go to the toilet.''
Dr Dray said she had checked with teachers and was not aware of any child in the whole-class trial who was ''caught short or distressed''.
Full story @ the Age (http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/anger-at-school-toilet-trial-20110811-1iovx.html)
I can't work out if this is just plain bizzare or has some merit.....
Jewel Topsfield
August 12, 2011
PARENTS are alarmed that children at a primary school in Melbourne's east began wetting themselves after the school tested an approach that discouraged them from going to the toilet in class time.
In the Kew Primary School trial, which parents said was conducted without their knowledge, the entire class would go to the toilet if one child needed to go during a lesson.
One mother, who asked not to be named, said she first became aware of the trial when her child wet herself at the front door. ''I said, 'What happened? She said, 'I'm holding on, I didn't want the whole class to have to come with me to the toilet.' At first when she told me the rule I disbelieved her.''
Advertisement: Story continues below
Another mother took her high-achieving child to the doctor after she wet herself twice at home.
''She hasn't done this since she was three,'' the mother said. ''There was a kind of ripple effect where parents slowly became aware of changes in their children. Children were complaining of headaches, they were constipated, they weren't drinking water and were coming home with full drink bottles.''
A group of parents wrote to Kew Primary principal Kim Dray, expressing their concern about the trial and citing medical research about the impact of constipation on children.
In an email, obtained by The Age, Dr Dray said the ''whole class'' method of toilet break supervision was ''used successfully by some other schools'' and was being tested by some classes.
''Team leaders met at the end of last week to discuss the trialled approaches, and although you may find this surprising, some commented on a decrease in disruption to class lessons, especially in senior and specialist classes,'' she wrote.
But then
Dr Dray told The Age Kew Primary was a caring school and she would never implement a policy that distressed students. ''It's our priority … to ensure that students are supervised at all times as we exercise our duty of care,'' she said.
''As a result of a few students leaving the toilets in an untidy manner, staff decided to review the way students were supervised while visiting the toilet during class. We trialled three options with different classes over two weeks. One of those involved … a whole-of-class break for stretching as well as an opportunity for children to go to the toilet.''
Dr Dray said she had checked with teachers and was not aware of any child in the whole-class trial who was ''caught short or distressed''.
Full story @ the Age (http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/anger-at-school-toilet-trial-20110811-1iovx.html)
I can't work out if this is just plain bizzare or has some merit.....