// BBC HEALTH NEWS — SALUTE
School's plan to use toilet chaperones puts pupils at risk, says campaigner
Molly Fenton says many pupils do not use the toilets in school because "they're embarrassed"
A school where some secondary-age pupils are escorted to the toilet could be discouraging them from seeking help for periods and other health issues, a campaigner has warned.
Molly Fenton, founder of the Love Your Period campaign, said she would have been unlikely to use school toilets if she had needed to be accompanied as a pupil, and said it put students "at risk".
Ebbw Fawr Learning Community in Blaenau Gwent introduced the chaperones in response to costly vandalism and excessive time spent out of lessons.
Councils set a school's toilet policies, the Welsh government said, adding they must be "accessible to all learners throughout the school day, taking into account pupils' basic needs".
Parents were initially told that all secondary-age pupils asking to use the toilet during a lesson would be escorted by a member of the pastoral team to the entrance of the toilet block.
The school then said, after meeting with 50 "pupil representatives", that the policy would only apply to pupils on stage three of the school's behaviour policy or persistent late attenders.
"I think that this is a very broad, problematic thing... putting many people at risk," said Fenton.
The 24-year-old from Cardiff said she was "quite shocked that was even thought of".
"I started the period of campaigning when I was in school, if I had to have a chaperone come to the toilet with me, I probably would not have gone to the toilet at all as someone that was not comfortable enough to talk about periods," she said.