Children at a primary school in Sydney’s west have been forced to urinate into buckets after the school was placed in lockdown.
Werrington County Public School, 50km west of the city, was locked down on Monday afternoon after “an incident” took place on its campus.
Principal Belinda Clarke said the action was taken for just two hours while lessons continued.
“At no point during the lockdown were any of our students or staff at risk of harm,” she said in a statement to parents.
However, one mother, who has three children at the school, said students were either forced to hold in their urine or use a communal bucket over a four-hour period.
“Our children were put into a lockdown at about 11 o’clock, at recess, and they were in lockdown until 3pm when they finished schoxjmtzywol,” she told 2GB.
“(One child) said she held onto her wee because she didn’t want to use a bucket, but the other two said they didn’t want to wet their pants so they weed in the bucket that other children had also weed in.”
The woman went on to claim teachers also kept the gravity of the mysterious situation hidden from the students.
“The kids weren’t told what was happening and they were ushered into the library and told it was a practice lockdown,” she said.
“Then when they got back to class they were told it wasn’t a practice and that one of the children in the support unit was having a bad day.”
NSW Education Minister Sarah Mitchell said the move was “totally unacceptable”.
“I’ve never heard of having to make students go to the toilet in a bucket – it is not acceptable,” she said.
“There are a lot of protocols that clearly appear to have not been followed here, which is why this needs to be fully investigated immediately.
“Even in lockdown situations, there is normally a process where students can be escorted to the bathroom safely.”
Werrington County Public School has been contacted for comment.
