On Thursday the 24th of February, free period products were introduced into the female and gender-neutral washrooms of Newstead Wood School for Girls, a scheme implemented by the Head Student Team of the school. 

 

Maurisha Ketheeswaran (Year 12) is the current head girl of Newstead. Her team consulted with the school parliament that provides the student body perspective concerning the period products project. Olivia Wright (Year 12) is the current Deputy Head Student of Newstead. She began the period products project by raising the issue with the school headteacher and deputy headteacher.

 

Olivia’s inspiration to start the project was from earlier this year when she played a netball match at another school and noticed that in their washroom, they had a box of free period products: “since I brought up the example of when it had worked well in another school environment, we decided to give it a try ourselves.” Furthermore, Maurisha explains that she is “a massive advocate for Women’s Health, and I think still in schools there is not enough emphasis on this topic… one of the things that I was adamant on getting changed was the way sanitary products were handled, it was all about making them accessible to every student.” The Head Student Team carefully selected and purchased the period products for the washrooms using the budget given to the school by the government, working rapidly to get the period products in the washrooms as soon as possible.

 

Maurisha Ketheeswaran says “sanitary products should be readily available to everyone… if there is poor menstrual hygiene, [lack of] availability can cause physical health risks as well as preventing women from reaching their full potential when they miss out on opportunities crucial to their growth. Along with periods, people can forget everything that comes with the mental health effects - physical pain. Periods are linked to many female health issues; these are so under spoken about, we should require more education on these topics in school.”

 

Olivia Wright says “it [periods] was considered a taboo topic to me and my friends. I think that this is a real shame, especially at a girl's school, that so many students feel awkward talking openly about such a natural process. Menstruation is something which unites half of the population and talking about it to others is crucial in a healthy development. Our free period products on display in washrooms will open conversations about periods to all year groups, and hopefully normalise the concept of having a period for younger students.”

 

Since their arrival, the period products in the school washrooms have been restocked every Thursday so that students at Newstead Wood School for Girls can continue to use them for free, all due to the efforts of the hardworking Head Student Team.