A schoolgirl on her period bled through her clothes twice when staff refused to let her to go to the toilet.
The 11-year-old’s mother was horrified when she returned home from Cotham School in Bristol with bloodstains on her clothes.
The parent, who wanted to protect her daughter’s identity, said she no longer wanted to attend school while on her period and was left feeling ‘humiliated’.
‘They should not be making young girls feel guilty because she needs to go to the bathroom and sort out her basic care,’ she told Bristol Live.
‘Now, she’s scared to go to school in case they won’t let her out of the classroom, that’s not what we should be teaching girls.’
After the mother repeatedly complained to the school, teachers issued her daughter with a toilet pass.
The first incident happened in September when the girl asked to go to the bathroom in a lesson after realising she was on her period, but the teacher said no.
The school vowed this would not happened again.
But after the girl had gone on her period again in October she was refused permission to go to the toilet by a male teacher, according to her mother.
‘She asked multiple times but he wouldn’t let her out and so she just had to sit there and bleed through her clothing – again,’ she said.
Cotham School said it was part of the Red Box Project, which supplies free period products to any child who might need them.
A spokesman said: ‘We aim to support all our girls during their period.
‘With regard to this particular incident we have been in full communication on several occasions with the mother and the young girl and have issued a toilet pass, as per our school policy, so that this will not happen again.
‘The toilet pass can be shown discretely to the teacher so that there is no explanation required. Many young girls and boys who have need of the toilet outside of lessons have these passes at Cotham School.
‘The welfare and well-being of our students is always at the forefront of what we do and we will always endeavour to work with parents and carers to support the needs of their child or children.’
Share if you feel the schools response is now too little, too late. The damage is already done to this young girl.