A traditional end-of-school summer dip was wrecked after a water firm pumped gallons of raw sewage into the sea.

Every year students from Swalecliffe Primary School in Whitstable, excitedly leave their final day of year six to enjoy a swim in their school uniforms.

But this year, many parents were reluctant to allow their children to take part in the annual activity due to concerns about sewage.

Southern Water agrees that a 35-minute discharge occurred the night before the celebrations but argues the spill did not affect safety at the bathing site in Tankerton.

Louise Tierney, whose daughter finished on Friday called the circumstances “sad and ridiculous”.

“It’s a tradition every year, the year six students lead the kids into the water and there's a family picnic,” she explained.

“The parents were really looking forward to it and the kids were really really excited.

“Nobody was saying that it definitely wasn’t safe but knowing there had been a sewage release there less than 24 hours before really put a blight on the whole event.

“It’s just sad and ridiculous that we live so near the sea but it's not always safe to enjoy it.”

Southern Water has faced a volley of criticism over a series of wastewater releases in recent years and was named among the worst-performing companies by Ofwat in 2022.

In 2021, it was fined a record £90m for dumping billions of litres of raw sewage into the sea at 17 sites, with various spillages around the east Kent coast.

Tankerton has seen seven discharges so far this month, with a total duration of six hours and 47 minutes but Southern claims only one spill impacted water quality.

The overflows are designed to legally discharge excess sewage and rainwater when under strain to prevent sewers becoming overloaded and backing up into homes.

Southern claims the releases are made up of 95% rainwater and are permitted by the Environment Agency.

And so on Friday morning, following a sustained discharge, and having seen a number of social media posts about the spill the evening before, parents were faced with the dilemma of either pulling their child out of the highly anticipated event or participate like it was business as usual.

Some chose to allow their little-ones to take the plunge while others elected to either just go for a paddle or stay out of the water altogether.

Wendy Hudson, 78, accompanied her granddaughter to the beach on Friday to join in with the custom but when they arrived Arrietty, 10, refused to join her friends in the sea.

Mrs Hudson said: “It’s absolutely awful and outrageous that this keeps happening. My granddaughter wouldn’t go in because when her and a friend were in the sea a few weeks ago a log of faeces floated past them.

“The kids running into the sea in their uniforms on the last day has been a tradition for years now. My grandson, who is 17 now, did it when he left primary school. They all go into the water in their uniforms on the last day as they never have to wear them again.

“It’s a lovely tradition, everybody comes down and people bring picnics and barbecues. But this year some parents had to tell their kids they couldn’t go in the sea.

“I do worry about my granddaughter’s health after what happened, especially as my daughter was sick for about a month after swimming earlier this year.

“We just know we have to be very careful now, check if there have been discharges and keep our heads above water. It’s very sad.”

A spokesperson for SOS Whitstable, a campaign group working to end sewage releases and improve water quality, said: "Whitstable pupils being forced to stay away from the beach at the end of term due to sewage is yet another example of Southern Water negatively impacting our community.

“We are particularly concerned that Southern Water have responded to this latest incident by claiming that water quality was not impacted, when their own website states that they do not have the technology to accurately make those recommendations.

“It seems as though they are prioritising their own PR over public health, which is always unacceptable but particularly so when children are put at risk."

Sophia Baker, another parent at the school who chose to let her daughter Josie paddle on Friday, said: “I've lived in Whitstable all my life and learned to swim at the beach here.

“The fact that the sewage releases keep happening is terrible and stops us and other families enjoying the beach.”

Southern says it is investing an extra £50 million by spring 2025 to reduce the use of storm overflows in Whitstable, Deal and Margate by at least 20% in two years.

A Southern Water spokesperson said: “Following periods of heavy rain last week, there were two short storm overflow releases off the coast of Tankerton – one on July 19 and another on July 20.

“Modelling indicated there was no impact on bathing water, and we informed local stakeholders about the circumstances, as well as publishing details on our Beachbuoy service.

“We completely understand the community’s concerns when storm overflows happen, but if they did not, homes, schools and communities would be flooded.

“This is why we are working hard and investing heavily in rolling out nature-based and engineering solutions to slow the flow of rainwater into our sewers and ultimately redesign the Victorian sewerage system.”