Absolutely talk with the teacher and principal ! Sadly there will be students who take going to the toilet as an excuse and fool around and with this behaviour they impact those who don’t misuse the situation. A good teacher should be able to judge the students’ character and the situation. It’s is unacceptable when students are denied to use the toilet when they need to go (even if they have to go frequently). My daughter has regularly an accident and is never ever denied the toilet; the opposite, her teacher may encourage her to go when my daughter shows signs she may need to go)

I would be taking it up with the teacher and then the school principal. It is possible that there might be a troublemaker in the class who does this on a routine basis to get out of schoolwork or get out of mingling with other children since Covid. However, they would have to prove this to me – and why they did what they did. No child likes to be the centre of bad attention, so this teacher had better fix the problem and fast.

I think you need to talk to the school principal and if you have no luck there you go to the education department and if they dont seem to be responding you tell them that you will go to the media regarding this.
Actually contact your local MP and lodge a complaint.

This happened to my daughter (with autism) twice in the past – once in grade 2 and once in grade 6. The first time, the school tried to blame it on me and there being ‘something going on at home’. I talked to my daughter about it and, apparently, during sitting time while the teacher talked, they were not allowed to move or put their hands up and interrupt at all. So, of course, she didn’t. Once the teacher stopped talking, my daughter said, “I’ve wet myself.” They weren’t even apologetic when I told them why she wet herself and that it was them that caused it to happen and nothing to do with home! The second time was towards the end of the day so, ‘of course’, they were expected to wait until the bell went. Living in a rural area with no public transport, I would pick them up via car. My daughter came to the car crying and told me she had wet herself and why. I ended up taking her to the doctor straight away because she said she was in pain after it happened. It turned out she also had a urine infection. I felt so bad for her, but I also felt quite angry that 2 different teachers had caused her to wet herself at school and seemed non-plussed about it. Children with autism can sometimes struggle to even know when to go to the toilet; they don’t recognise the tell-tale signs. It was the same with my daughter. Toilet training her occurred instantaneously at a late age due to sheer luck and timing. I happened to see a look on her face, wondered if it was her needing to go to the toilet, popped her on the toilet and it clicked – she finally realised the connection between the feeling and going to the toilet. However, she would only get this feeling when she was nearly bursting and very uncomfortable. To be forced to sit down and feel like that for so long that she could no longer hold it in is a horrible situation to be in and highlights the lack of understanding and empathy some teachers have. Your anger is justified and I wouldn’t put up with it. My suggestion would be to throw this all back on them and that teacher. Let the school know what was done to your child, what resulted and how it has now affected him psychologically. They caused this, they can fix it. I remember someone saying to me once that we need to be an advocate for our child with regards to their school life because no-one else is going to be one for them. And it is true. At best, most school staff will only ‘advocate’ for your child if they think they can pin something on you or your child’s homelife.

That is absolutely horrible that poor child! The teacher’s behaviour is bordering on abuse! Being able to go to the toilet is a basic human right. Yes, I understand how frustrating it could be if students were lying, but a good teacher could use some discretion. She would have known which kids would be like that.

I would be taking this up with the principal, this is basic human needs being able to go to the toilet and the teacher refused to give him the basic needs. She deserves a warning from it honestly. Your poor kid! He would be so humiliated, I would have told him to call you from class and risked getting in trouble than deal with that..

I would be having strong words with the school. I would also be telling my kid, if they need to go badly enough, and the teacher wont let them leave, to just go straight to the office and tell the,=m.
Why are toilet’s locked between classes? Some kids wont have time to get a note, and a key and then have to unlock the door. It’s asinine.

Should’ve been allowed I’d be so angry about this

Given that he asked several times, he clearly did need the toilet and should have been allowed to go.

I can understand how frustrating it must be if students keep asking to go to the toilet, but if he kept asking he obviously needed to go. I’d be taking it further and going to the principal as this isn’t good enough. Imagine the bullying this boy could receive if other kids did actually see it.

While I understand how frustrating it can be for a teacher when kids ask to go to the bathroom mid lesson, and I am sure there are some non-genuine requests, but if a child asks to go they should be allowed to go. And if my children ever faced this situation, I’d definitely be bringing it up and complaining to the school.

Straight to the principal I’d go and make complaints about the teacher and if the principal doesn’t do anything then I’d go to the education department that is not ok everyone has a right to go to the toilet that could have seriously caused bladder issues. Now he has refuses to be at school for embarrassment that’s not ok either. That so needs to change!

Though the teacher may correctly assume that MOST 12 year olds can manage to get through a whole class without needing to pee, that is an assumption based on the best case scenario. There are many issues that could stop a child from being able to achieve this, from physical, mental, emotional and behavioural issues. My nephew is on the spectrum and no matter how many times you tell him to go to the toilet ahead of time, he has a fear of missing something, so this was constantly him throughout school. He wouldn’t go to the bathroom at recess and lunch, preferring to play with his mates, so inevitably needed to go during class, and often that was then an urgent need. Frustrating though that is for a teacher, he will learn better once he can take care of his need to go to the bathroom, so better that than a more disruptive child uncomfortably fidgeting, in need of the bathroom.

Oh dear what a terrible time for your boy, yiu really need to speak to the headmaster first to let them know there is a real problem with the rule about being allowed to go to the toilet during lessons, also about them being locked (I could understand if they have a vandalism/ grafitti problem) during class times. If a child asks to go to the toilet they should be allowed to go, as long as they are back in a reasonable time. No child whether in prep/kindergarten or year 12 if they say they need to go then they need to go, they may have a medical condition where they can’t hold their bladder or bowels for any length of time OT it maybe a temporary problem like a bladder infection ( where holding for a length of time can be very painful and cause further damage to bladder) or a bout of diarrhoea. I cannot imagine the frustration of your son being denied access to toilet and to then wet himself in class in grade 7 must have been so embarrassing and I don’t blame him for not wanting to return thinking his classmates would make fun of him.
I hope your son can return to school as soon as possible and maybe change teachers, it would be a shame if he had to change schools for the basic human right to go to the toilet when he needs to, not just when it is break times.
Keep your chin up young man and if anything like this happens again just walk out and go to the office and let them know you need the toilet NOW please.

I’ve told my child if they really need to go to walk out. They can pee on a tree. It’s different if they are always asking to avoid the work but sometimes you just have to go.

This teacher was in the wrong and should be reported. I have only one kidney and could not hold on when I was at school, but there was never a problem in being able to go. This can cause serious problems medically with what they did.

If your son feels self-conscious about what happened, I would look at another school for him.

I would be reporting this teacher to the education department. This is denying basic human rights.

This is totally wrong!
I’ve told my kids in a very serious way, and ONLY if you are busting to just walk out!!! If the teacher goes to stop them PHYSICALLY there will be consequences!!! By my husband! I’m not ever the one to sort to violence but this is absolutely ridiculous!!!!! It’s a human right to be able to use a bathroom!!

How awful that a child can’t go to the toilet. This sort of thing happens at my kids school too. It makes me mad.

This is why I don’t support or agree with sending my children to school. This kind of controlling & disgusting behaviour on the teachers part is appalling.