Posted By Aj Saunders
I cant comment on why the water was removed, most likely due to contamination of some sort.

As a parent i would be furious if there were no drinking water provisions at a school for 5 months.

Reg 22 of the Health, Safety & Welfare Regs requires a wholesome supplu of drinking water. 5 months is a long time even for a Local Authority.

Have water provisions been put in place ?

Posted By Tony Birchall
They claim that it has been a "government initiative" !!
When I complained they said that if the child did run out of water they can re-fill from one of the water bottles that I suspect is a facility for staff only.

Posted By Tony Birchall
THIS IS GOING THROUGH MY MIND TOO. IT'S DEFINATELY A GOVERNER ISSUE.

Posted By Tony Birchall
Ah, without sounding petty they told me that there is a health and safety issue here, in respect to the water fountains have been creating a slip hazard - particularly with children in the early years (like my daughter) which rubs salt in the wounds !!
I ain't told them my discipline yet, I am just waiting to here their argument in full before I attempt to rip them to bits on this one.

Posted By Tony Birchall
The crazy world that we live in. I was not that fussed about paying for bottled water, but I just got over annoyed when I recieved a standard letter asking parents to send water bottles in a seperate bag (or carry seperately to avoid wetting anything in the book bags). A book bag, a PE bag and a water bag makes three bags and unless I'm mistaken the child has two hands ??
Now I'll address this lack of drinking water in a different light.

Posted By Hilary Charlton
I too am a school Governor at an infants school in addition to my day job and advise on H&S issues (of course). I, and the other members of the Governing Body, would be appalled at this situation. Suggest you contact the LEA with a formal complaint. The enforcing body for schools is the Local Authority so suggest you contact them as well. Five months is way too long. We all appreciate it may take a few weeks to sort out as the wheels of education move very slowly. They appear to have two speeds, dead slow and stop and we seem to have slipped here from dead slow into stop. Perhaps if they spent less time putting our children through needless stressful SATS and other tests they could spend a little time on ensuring they have the basic requirements of life!

Hilary

Posted By Euan Turner
I think Dave's got the right idea with the water snatcher... there's definitely a creeping trend to 'privatise' the provision of drinking water. Take away access to mains water and surprise surprise, the sales of bottled water will increase. Health is often cited as a reason, whereas I remember up here in Scotland an analysis carried out a few years ago proved that tap water was in most cases of superior quality to anything bottled! And I wonder what the long-term environmental impact of all these prviate springs and bottling plants cropping up to meet 'demand' will be?

Or am I just being paranoid? And apologies for taking the thread in a slightly different direction...

Posted By Stuart Nagle
Being more of a sceptic this sounds rather like finance amy also have a big part and the school has taken a decision based on finance rather than thinking through the matter or being aware of the legal requirements and/or ramifications.

Maintaining and testing drinking water supplies costs money, and drinking fountains are a prime target for vandalism and acts of what could be described as 'contamination' (without going into details!).

If these were withdrawn and teacher supplied with chilled water dispensers - and children have to bring their own, oh-joy, look at the money we could save on maintenance, testing, repair etc...etc...

I think the matter needs to go higher than the Governers of the school. I would suggest a letter (signed by a group of parents) to the local education authority, with a copy sent to the head master for the attention of the Governors would get much smarter attention. Perhaps a copy to the local press also would not go amiss !!!

Posted By Jay Joshi
The regulations that apply in context of welfare of pupils are the The Education (School Premises) Regulations 1999.

http://www.legislation.h...k/si/si1999/19990002.htm



These Regulations revoke and re-enact with modifications the Education (School Premises) Regulations 1996 ("the 1996 Regulations"). The Regulations apply to schools maintained by local education authorities.

Regulation 22 is about Water Supplies:-

Regulation 22

(1) A school shall have a wholesome supply of water for domestic purposes including a supply of drinking water.

(2) Water closets and urinals shall have an adequate supply of cold water and washbasins, sinks (including deep sinks), baths and showers shall have an adequate supply of hot and cold water.

(3) The temperature of hot water supplies to baths and showers shall not exceed 43°C.

There is a DFEE (now DFES) Circular on this that gives guidance on these regulations.

Posted By stephen j mills
Tony,
Sorry to have to disagree with Hilary, but Local Authorities do not have enforcement responsibilities for schools, the HSE do.
A LA cannot take enforcement action on itself, which it would be doing with a LEA establishment, and the Enforcing Authority Regs place educational establishments with the HSE.

Posted By stephen j mills
Totally agree Tony.
The school is required to provide the drinking water, but should not object if some parents wish to send their children to school with their own bottled water.
I think someone here has lost the plot!

Posted By Jay Joshi
The guidance for The Education (School Premises) Regulations 1999 is "Standards for School Premises"

This guidance describes, and advises on meeting, the minimum standards for the premises of all maintained schools in England and Wales.

Non-maintained special schools and approved independent schools must also meet some of
these standards.

http://www.teachernet.go...ocbank/index.cfm?id=3928

Water supplies

Schools must have a wholesome water supply meeting the requirements of the Water

Supply (Water Quality) Regulations 1989 (as amended). There is guidance on water quality in Section E, ‘Hot and cold water supplies’, of DfES Building Bulletin 87, Guidelines for Environmental Design in Schools (revision of Design Note 17), and in section 15, ‘Water quality’, of Building Bulletin 83, Schools’ Environmental Assessment Method (SEAM).

Water supplied for domestic purposes means water for washing, cleaning floors, washing up crockery and for drinking.

The Regulations do not specify how drinking water should be provided for pupils.

Most schools provide drinking fountains, although these can be prone to damage.

Health and Safety guidance* advises that drinking water taps should not be installed in sanitary accommodation. There are no standards for the distribution of drinking water outlets throughout school premises, but bodies responsible should consider the pattern of demand within schools, which can be concentrated within quite short breaks.

The Regulations do not require drinking water outlets to be labelled but there may be benefits in labelling drinking water and non-drinking water outlets.

Water closets and urinals must have an adequate supply of cold water and washbasins, sinks, baths and showers must have adequate supplies of both hot and cold water.

To minimise the risk of scalding, the temperature of hot water supplies to baths and showers must not exceed 43oC. DfES Building Bulletin 77, Designing for Pupils with Special Educational Needs: Special Schools, backs up this statutory standard by recommending that hot water delivered at outlets such as washbasins, sinks and showers should be at a temperature of 38oC-42oC.

Related Documents:
• The Education (School Premises) Regulations 1999
• (for England only) section 77 of the School Standards and Framework Act 1998 and DfES Circular 3/99, The Protection of School Playing Fields

Superseded Documents:
• DfES Circular 10/96, The 1996 School Premises Regulations

There are excellent resources on teachernet & governernet as far as Schools specific health, safety & Welfare in context of school facilites & buildings information is concerned.

The websites are :-

http://www.teachernet.gov.uk/buildings

http://www.teachernet.gov.uk

http://www.governornet.co.uk