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A primary school teacher reportedly forces students to fill out a ‘reflection form’ if they are desperate for the toilet in lessons.

Rachel Bentham has come under fire from parents at Norden Community Primary School in Greater Manchester, who are up in arms over her ‘military’ regime that they claim has put their children off school.

In addition to the head’s rule of making pupils file a written toilet request, children are also supposedly made to march around the school with their hands behind their backs as part of an activity dubbed ‘fantastic walking’.

A letter from mums and dads sent to school governors read: ‘It has been reported to parents that children are being denied toilet breaks in lessons, or if they appear really desperate and have gone anyway, they have to fill in a reflection sheet,’ according to the Mirror.

They also reportedly lashed out at the ‘fantastic walking’ sessions which they likened to drills performed in an army base camp or a Victorian school.

A spokeswoman for Rochdale Council said: ‘We are aware of the issues parents have raised and we are dealing with them via appropriate channels and procedures.’

And the governors reportedly said that they will respond to the concerns raised by parents.

At our school the children complete a reflection sheet if they have done something wrong. This sounds ridiculous.

Do you think this is acceptable?

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  • Sounds like a horrible place to send your kids. Hopefully it changes soon.

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  • I don’t agree with this. Kids don’t really understand their bodies yet and only rely on the impulse of needing to go ‘now’

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  • Sounds like a tough school, can’t say if send my kids there.

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  • I think making a child wet themselves because you won’t let them go to the toilet, and then punishing them for it, is abuse.

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  • No, certainly not ok at primary schools.
    My kids at high school are not allowed to use the toilet outside the breaks, otherwise they get detention. However this is a threat, not all teachers follow this rule strictly.

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  • So wrong. Kids arent always great in timing their toilet needs and shouldn’t be punished

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  • When my son was in primary school the first few grades they were allowed to go freely. But when he went into year 2-3 class they all had to sign their name and date when going to the toilet and returning. My son is autistic and it was too much for him to cope with the changes so he held on for 7 or so weeks and not going to the toilet. When I found out (he couldn’t communicate well then) they let him go freely. ???? we homeschool after that. Too many problems had happened. Re: bullying.

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  • I’d want to hear the full story I can’t imagine a child being denied being able to use the toilet.

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  • I’m sure the school will deal with this behaviour. It has gone a bit too far.

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  • I could imagine it would be difficult for the children that struggle to write.

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  • And what happens while they’re filling out this form they wet themselves!? Rediculous

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  • Ridiculous indeed. And what if “by reflecting” the kids can’t keep it any longer?

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  • It really is just ridiculous!

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  • I have always needed to go toilet every hour. I would have had soo many problems if this was my school. The way the school answered the response looks to be that they don’t actually care about the students enough/

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  • Wow! I get that some kids use the toilet break in class to often get out of class. And I don’t know why they don’t go in allocated breaks. However, I did pee my pants in class in grade one. I was too shy to ask to go :( Not sure this form thing will be a solution


    • Even if children go to the toilet during allotted breaks there are times when a child needs to go again. None of us can control nature.
      Do workers wait until allotted breaks? We never had an allotted Afternoon break. Where I worked we had a morning break at approx. 10.15am,,(10 min. but still answered phone calls if we got any) Lunch at 1.00pm(30min during which time we ate lunch) then worked until 4.45pm or later. We had to drink water while working to prevent dehydration so naturally we needed to go to the toilet more.

    Reply

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