PA
A seven-year-old girl with health problems has been told she cannot drink fruit juice in the classroom - despite medics advising her she must drink fluids regularly.
Jessica Hooton's furious mum, Liz Norburn, has hit out at staff at Yearsley Grove Primary School in Huntingdon who have said Jessica cannot drink diluted fruit juice , despite having a doctor's note. Jessica suffers from cystitis and recurring urine infections.
Ms Norburn told her local newspaper that the school will only allow water in the classroom, but Jessica will only drink diluted fruit juice.
If she does not keep up her fluid intake, the little girl is left with pain and discomfort.
Ms Norburn told reporters she only sent Jessica to school with a very weak fruit juice drink, but staff ordered her to leave it outside the classroom. The worried mum said she feels Jessica is being 'singled out' and describes her as being 'really upset by it,' adding: 'If she was in a wheelchair you wouldn't ask her to leave it outside the classroom door, why ask my daughter to leave her juice in her bag?'
The school's head teacher, Ann Burn, would not comment on individual cases, but said the school encouraged youngsters to drink plenty of water, but could not have fruit juice in classrooms because of the potential spilling and mess risk to carpeted areas. Fruit juice could, however, be left on the packed lunch trolley outside of the classroom, and accessed at any time with the permission of the class teacher. Ms Burn said the school's policy on this had been 'operating for many years without previous complaint,' but added:
'Should any child have a health condition which requires them to drink a specific amount of fluid at regular intervals, we would treat this as an official medical procedure to be carried out under supervision in the medical room.'
What do you think?
Is the school being over zealous, or is this a sensible precautions against mess and disruption in the classroom and possibly the mum making a fuss?