Water in School
Medical research has shown that children need to drink at least 3-4 glasses of water per day while at school and even more when exercising or in warm weather. The links between drinking water and health are well known:
• Drinking water throughout the day is an important way of protecting health and contributing to well-being.
• Drinking plenty of water can help to prevent a range of short and long-term health problems such as headaches, bladder and bowel problems
• Water is a healthy drink and does not damage teeth, unlike still and fizzy soft-drinks high in sugar, additives, artificial sweeteners and caffeine.
We also acknowledge the links between water and improved learning capacity:
• When we are thirsty our mental performance declines by 10%.
• Mental performance improves with frequent intakes of small amounts of water.
• Pupils‛ concentration improves when they are not distracted by feelings of thirst, tiredness and irritability.
Children will achieve more when their health and learning needs are met. It is important therefore to ensure that they have easy access to water throughout the day (with access to water bottles and coolers) and to provide a school environment
that supports health and wellbeing. Each child is issued with a free water bottle at
the start of their time with us, with additional or replacement bottles available for purchase from the school office. We would like to promote the drinking of only water for the following reasons:
· It is very important to keep any squash, fruit juice or fizzy drinks to mealtimes only (and ideally limit fizzy drinks to occasional drinks).
· Sweet and acidic drinks (including those that are sugar-free) are harmful to teeth. The more frequently they are drunk, the greater the harm to teeth.
· The consumption of high-sugar soft drinks can cause a rapid rise in blood sugar levels, followed by a dip, resulting in low levels of physical and mental energy.
· Some children could be sensitive to the additives, caffeine and sweeteners in soft drinks.
However we do understand that some children find drinking water unappealing and in an effort to ensure we encourage a healthy lifestyle and provide a healthy learning environment we will allow children to bring squash in their water bottles. We would strongly recommend that the squash provided is ‘no added sugar‛ and high in juice content to help prevent the health problems described above.
