Furious parents have accused a school of not letting pupils take loo breaks during lessons.
Mums and dads complained on social media their children had been told they were no longer allowed to leave lessons for the toilet.
It was claimed a pupil was “humiliated” in front of the class by a teacher, who asked her loudly: “Why can’t you just hold it in?”
Amid reportedly confused messages, staff at Highcliffe School in Dorset have insisted the new policy is in place to "discourage" youngsters leaving lessons for a toilet break - and that there is not or has ever been a ban.
A parent who wanted to remain anonymous after her son was refused a loo break criticised the decision and said pupils had to wait up to two hours for relief, reports the New Milton Advertiser.
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“My child is someone for whom it takes a lot to raise his hand in class and ask to go,” she said.
“Going to the toilet is not a luxury, it’s a necessity.
“This is going to cause a lot of children anxiety and stress, and I think this shows a real lack of respect."
Parents said kids may need to go urgently because they start lessons at 9am and with no break until 11am which was too long.
And they suggested it shouldn't be encouraged because it can lead to health problems.
Parents contacted the school and were told it was a new policy to stop children skipping school, but no parents had been informed.
One of the parents also said she had received an email from the assistant head saying it was not official school policy and just that kids and taking toilet breaks in lessons was being discouraged.
“There seems to be a real breakdown in communication between the head of staff and the rest of the staff,” she said.
Other parents said teachers would use their own discretion to prevent a small number of pupils trying get out of class.
An email from assistant head Edward Davies, reportedly said children were being discouraged from leaving classes for the loo.
Mr Edwards insisted the school does not prohibit regular toilet breaks or the filling of water bottles during lessons.
During Covid, when restrictions limited the number of students visiting a toilet at one time, the school loosened their toilet rules,
But since virus curbs were relaxed students were expected to remain in class for the entire lesson.
Students with medical or special educational needs have access to an exit card if they need it
But children who are desperate or on their menstrual cycle are also allowed to leave.
Pupils should be able to use the five-minute window between lessons to use the toilet, Mr Savies argued.
But parents said visiting the loo while making their way from one side of the school to the other was impossible.
Students have their absences logged which Mr Davies said allowed the school to work with those leaving class often.
He suggested this could be a reason for parents to seek further support and in some circumstances, medical assistance.
Patrick Eamshaw, head teacher, however, denied there was a "ban" on using the toilet.
He said: “As my colleague’s response to the anonymous parent who subsequently criticised the school on social media made clear, the school does not ban students from visiting the toilets during lessons if they need to go.
"We had a few concerned parents contacting us to seek clarification but the so-called wave of anger was generated by social media postings rather than the school banning toilet breaks, which it has not done.
"Indeed, since those postings we’ve had comments directed straight to us supportive of students being in class for a whole lesson.
"We do not ban students from visiting the toilet. As you would expect though, we do encourage students to remain in their lessons for the full 55 minutes if possible, and have always done so.
"This routine was temporarily relaxed during the Covid restrictions until July 2021 because there were limits sensibly imposed on the number of students who could be in a small room at the same time, because they broke year ‘bubbles’ when accessing the toilet.
"In addition to being able to visit the toilets every 55 minutes between lessons, and visit the toilets during break and lunchtime, or before and after school, based on what our teachers tell us around 50 times a day students in our 1500-pupil 11 to 18 school leave lessons to visit the toilet even with us encouraging them to remain in their lesson if possible."
