Unfortunately, since September 2022, the Mooncup menstrual cup is no longer included in the government’s Period Equality scheme’s product offering. Any educational organisations wishing to provide Mooncup menstrual cups to their learners, please contact us directly.
Parents and guardians
Get in touch with the head teacher to make sure your school is signed up to the free period product scheme. We have produced a template letter that you can use to ask your school’s status and to request that your school includes sustainable products in their order. Feel free to copy, paste and edit where needed.
You can also download the letter template here (Word document).
Template letter
Dear xxx,
I am writing to you as a parent/guardian of xxx, who is a year xxx student at your school’s name. I would like to enquire whether our school has opted into the government’s free period product scheme? I would also like to know whether reusable period products (i.e. Mooncup menstrual cup and/or reusable pads) have been made available for any pupil wishing to choose a more sustainable menstrual product?
I appreciate the difficult position that schools are in in this unprecedented time. However, now more than ever, it’s important that schools take this opportunity to address the issue of youth period poverty. Research undertaken by Plan International during lockdown found that 30% of 14-21-year olds struggled to afford period products in the UK. Over half of them used toilet paper as an alternative. It is important that the families of vulnerable students in our community are not made to choose to spend their money on period care instead of other essentials like food. Or go without.
Schools in England have also been set a target to go single-use plastic free by 2022. With disposable period products, such as pads and tampons, made up of up to 90% plastic, I would also ask for you to ensure more sustainable, reusable choices, such as Mooncup menstrual cup are also available for learners. In difficult times like this, the benefits of reusable menstrual products are all the more clear. They are not just products for now, but for the future too.
Looking forward to hearing from you.
Yours sincerely,
xxx
Pupils and students
Ask your teacher or school nurse for your free Mooncup® menstrual cup! All learners in state schools and colleges should be able to access period products if they need them. If your school hasn’t opted into the programme, you can use our letter template to write to your head teacher and ask them to sign up. Feel free to copy, paste and edit where needed.
You can also download the letter template here (Word document).
Template letter
Dear xxxxx
I am writing to you to ask if school name has opted into the government’s free period product scheme? I would also like to know if reusable period products, such as the Mooncup menstrual cup and/or reusable pads, are available for pupils wishing to use more sustainable menstrual products?
New research from charity Plan International UK has revealed that during lockdown, 3 in 10 girls struggled to afford or access period products. Over half of them used toilet paper as an alternative. A previous period poverty study by the same charity found that 49 per cent of girls missed an entire day of school because of their period.
It’s important that the families of vulnerable students are not made to choose to spend their money on period care instead of other essentials like food. Our school has got an opportunity to safeguard the poorest students in our community and to make sure they don’t have to go without.
It’s also important that our school minimises plastic waste and offers reusable products, such as the Mooncup menstrual cup, to its learners. Disposable period products, such as traditional pads and tampons, are made up of up to 90% plastic. If we want to work towards the target of becoming a single-use plastic free school by 2022, we need to make sure sustainable options are made available too.
Thank you for reading my letter and looking forward to hearing from you.
Your sincerely,
xxxx, year xxx
Click here to return to your FreePeriod lobbying kit.
