Featured Image Credit: Matt Gilley/BPM Media
Topics: Life
Emma Guinness
An 'inhumane' school in Plymouth has been called out by parents for forcing them to pay for a doctor's note to avoid its toilet rules.
Marine Academy Plymouth does not allow pupils to use the bathroom during lessons unless their parents have purchased a pass from a doctor for £22, or if there is a 'medical necessity'.
Instead, the pupils are expected to take the time to relieve themselves between lessons, on their breaks, at lunchtime, and before school.
As reported by Plymouth Live, the school has now come under fire from the parents of female students, who they say have been left embarrassed and in pain.
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Carol Courage has a 12-year-old daughter at the school, and she told her that even if she tells her teacher that she is desperate, she's not allowed to use the bathroom.
Carol now blames the 'inhumane' rule for her daughter developing developing urinary tract infections (UTIs).
Dawn Shepard and Trevor Joyce, who also have a 12-year-old at the school, said their daughter no longer wants to attend as a result of this 'inhumane' rule.
While the girls' parents have now paid £22 for a toilet pass that lets them go during lessons, they still have to ask for permission.
Carol told PlymouthLive she believes her daughter is being denied a human right: “Even if the girls are on their monthlies or anything and need to use the toilet, even if they say they're going to leak, they're not allowed to go.
"I get if they go in a crowd - that's different - but if they are going on their own they are going to the toilet. It's inhumane not to let them use the toilet. It's not just me who thinks this, it's hundreds of other parents who agree."
Parents of children at the school have now voiced their frustration on Facebook, where they agreed with Carol that the policy causes 'discomfort'.
She said: "It's got to the point where if my daughter wants to use the toilet, I have said to her to just walk out of the lesson and use the toilet.
"She is then put into a compass - a form of detention - for the whole day and then gets half-an-hour detention after school for using the toilet.
"I have had to get a doctor's letter which then costs you £22 from the doctor to say your daughter can use the bathroom. I'm not the only parent who has had to pay that."
Leigh Withers, the head teacher, said that the pupils' welfare was the school's 'first priority.'
"Students can use the toilet at the start of day, break time, between lesson transition, lunchtime and after school," she explained.
"If there is a medical necessity to use the toilet at other times we discuss each case with parents to ensure the best support plan is in place and this may include a toilet pass."
Tyla has reached out to Marine Academy Plymouth for comment.