Primary school bans all drinks except water from pupils' packed lunches

26 October 2019, 18:27

One furious parent has threatened to pull her child out of class in a bid to reverse the "daft rule".

A primary school in Hull has banned all drinks apart from water from their pupils' packed lunches.

St Andrew's in Bransholme, Yorkshire, has put a stop to children bringing in sugary juices unless supplied by staff, sparking outrage among parents who are threatening to take their kids out of class over the "daft" policy.

One furious mother explained the situation to the Hull Daily Mail, saying: "Our kid's headteacher at primary has now not only issued a ban on juice during the day but now only water with kids' packed lunches due to allergies and dairy allergies.

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"He won't put the allergy sufferers in a different room saying it's penalising them but it's also penalising the children without allergies.

"There is absolute uproar about it. It's not nice to have a child with allergies but instead of upsetting everyone, and like he says it's life-threatening, he needs to make sure the kids who have these life-threatening allergies are in their own safe area to eat what they want.

"We as parents are absolutely enraged. We give our children school compliant juices for their dinners as a lot of our children don't like water.

"It's like we are back at school ourselves, there's always some daft rule in place."

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Despite the obvious anger of some parents, headteacher Graham Huckstep insisted he had only been sent three damning emails about the drinks rule from a school of 600 children.

He said: "St Andrew's like most schools are developing our 'Healthy Bodies/Healthy Minds' approach.

"Reducing sugary drinks and improving attitudes towards healthy bodies is a national project, as you are aware.

"Linked with this is our care of those growing number of children with allergies.

"Our water policy - instigated on an idea by parents - was initiated 15 years ago."

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Mr Huckstep added that the school has alternative products for pupils who can't drink water for medical reasons.

He also explained that many parents had offered him encouraging messages of support.