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A mum of a young school girl from Bristol has been left horrified after witnessing her daughter return home from school on two occasions having bled through her clothes because teachers would not allow her to leave the classroom.

The 11-year-old pupil, who attends Cotham School, has been left feeling “humiliated” by the incidents, says her mum, and no longer feels comfortable attending school while she is on her period.

Following a number of complaints made by the mother to the secondary school on her daughter's behalf, she has now been given a toilet pass.

However, the parent is concerned with the way the school dealt with the situation and is worried other girls at the school and across the UK may be at risk of having the same experience.

"They should not be making young girls feel guilty because she needs to go to the bathroom and sort out her basic care. 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," said the mum, who has not been named to protect her child's identity.

"We should be allowing them to go as part of giving them the tools to achieve their goals whether they are on or off their period.

“It shouldn’t have gotten as far as her having to bleed through her clothes not once but twice in the space of a few short months. Schools should be finding ways to help kids not traumatize them,” she said.

'She just had to sit there and bleed through her clothing - again'

The first incident happened in September, shortly after the young girl began at her new school. During lesson time she asked to go to the bathroom having realised she had come on her period but the teacher said no.

It was a non-uniform day and she was wearing light blue jeans and she ended up noticeably bleeding through her clothing. She was 'saved' only by the fact she was wearing a long jumper which just about covered it.

Embarrassed and left feeling uncomfortable throughout the day, she went home to her mother extremely upset.

"I couldn't believe it. I rang the school and complained and they just said it would be okay and wouldn’t happen again. They seemed sorry it had happened but didn’t tell me how they would make sure it didn’t happen again," said the mum.

"Then, in October she came on again and she was petrified of going to school. I rang to say I was keeping her off and the attendance lady said I couldn't keep her off school for that reason.

"I understood that, but she was so worried in case it happened again. I was assured the teachers would be told and that if there any problems to get back in touch with her."

And, it did happen again. This time a male teacher had not let her out of class to go to the bathroom telling her if she asked again she would receive another strike against her name on the board and would be sent to the SL learning classroom.

"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. It was very traumatising for her," she said.

'Girls have the right to attend to their basic care'

"When you’re only 11-years-old and shy anyway, requesting to go to the toilet several times is unpleasant enough but, all she wanted to do was take care of her basic care.

"They kept saying it was their policy but I really think they should change their policy if that's the case, they need to do better.

“I mean my daughter is one among thousands of girls in any number of schools in Bristol and up and down the country so, this can’t just be happening to her and it’s not acceptable.

“Their primary concern should be the welfare of girls who have the right to basic care and not focused solely on whether children will abuse some sort of pass system.”

She claims her daughter has not received an apology from the school despite being made to feel like it was her fault.

The mum added: “I can’t remember ever not being allowed to go to the toilet in school unless you had been a few times during class. I’m one of three sisters and none of us had to go through anything like this.

“How can this happen in this day and age when there is so much information out there and we are meant to be much more open when talking about aspects of women’s health including a woman’s menstrual cycle?”

A spokesperson of Cotham School, said: “The school does have a policy not to allow students out of lessons for the toilet as part of our Safeguarding procedures. Students should not be out of lessons unsupervised.

'We aim to support all our girls during their period'

“However, as staff we are all keenly aware that we have young girls in our care and that, on occasion, they will need to use the toilet outside of the usual break times.

“It is regrettable that this has happened and that this young girl has felt humiliated and also that this article may portray the school in a negative way when we are trying to do good work in this area.”

The school is a part of the Red Box Project, a charity that seeks to alleviate period poverty, whereby they supply free sanitary products to any child that might need them, according to the spokesperson.

This means Red Boxes containing free menstrual products donated by the local community are located in several offices around the school.

“We aim to support all our girls during their period,” added the spokesperson.

“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,” they said.

“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.”