Johnstone High School hosts first Menstrual Hygiene Day

Johnstone High School recently hosted the first ever Menstrual Hygiene Day to be held in a Renfrewshire school

Menstrual Hygiene Day is an international date to celebrate periods and challenge stigma around periods and raise awareness around women’s health issues such as endometriosis, fibroids, ovarian cysts, and adenomyosis. Menstrual Hygiene Day was the 28th of May, and was first started in 2014, and has since been celebrated across the world ever since.

Johnstone High School is proud to have been the first school in Renfrewshire school to have a Menstrual Hygiene Day. The day consisted of a powerpoint to every class, talking about the importance of breaking down stigmas surrounding periods.

At break there were free products such as period pants, pads, tampons, menstrual cups on offer, along with a bakesale, and period related affirmation bracelets. At lunch, there were games such as guess the number of sweets, pin the pad on the pants, trivia, and more bakesale products and bracelets. Everything was donation based apart from the products which were free.

The event got a great response, it was well attended and there were lots of open and important conversations between pupils and teachers alike.

At the end of the day, a presentation was delivered by the pupils who organised and ran the event. The presentation highlighted the importance of period products being accessible throughout the school and ways to support female pupils in the school.

In total, Johnstone High School raised £130.75, for Menstrual Health Project, a charity which supports women who experience menstrual health conditions and also provide information toolkits and advice.

Unfortunately, periods and women’s health is not able to be spoken about without scrutiny and stigma, and we hope that with a continuation of Menstrual Hygiene Days each year, things can become easier and more open for girls and women surrounding periods.

Lorraine Cameron, the Provost of Renfrewshire said, “There should be no mystery around periods for anybody – for half of the population it is a normal bodily function and most women and girls deal with it without a second thought. However, there are the more serious challenges women face if they suffer from conditions like irregular periods, painful and heavy periods or conditions like endometriosis.

“That is why I am so proud of Mirin, her peers and her teachers for banding together to bring this issue out into the open at Johnstone High School. This approach is life changing, and can help dispel the myths around periods, particularly for young men.

“I personally suffered from quite serious issues relating to menstruation, so I know how serious it can get for young women. I wish I had been able to talk about the things that were happening to me when I was a teenager.

“I would love to see our other schools taking this approach – anyone can take part in Menstrual Hygiene Day and it helps to remove the stigmas and taboos around periods. Let’s normalise periods – together. Well done Mirin and Johnstone High School!”

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Mrs Omalley, acting Head Teacher at Johnstone High School also expressed her appreciation. “What a fantastic day. Staff and pupils worked together to plan Menstrual Hygiene Day to raise awareness about periods and where you can access free period products.

“We delivered lessons to increase understanding and knowledge about this very important topic.Younger pupils appreciated the opportunity to speak to older pupils. The presentation was very informative and staff are now looking at ways they can support pupils in school. The day was a great success thanks to the hard work of everyone involved.”

Overall, Menstrual Hygiene Day was extremely well received, and we hope that we can work together to help end period stigma, and inspire other schools to do the same! Making things a bit easier for young women and girls in our schools across Renfrewshire and within the wider community.

You can find out more about Johnstone High School via their website.