Albany Healthy Schools

Best Bathroom Practice: The School Toilets

The Importance of School Hygiene

School toilets are a bone of contention for many parents. Memories of school toilets set a troubled foundation from which many parents worry about the health and safety of their little ones during school time.

So, what’s the answer? Well, CCTV within toilet buildings is intrusive and unethical, and rules and systems to ensure staff monitor pupils is often unmanageable and impractical.

Raising the Standard

Albany Healthy Schools are on a mission to increase the standard of school toilets across the UK.

In a study conducted by the UK Youth Parliament in 2004, nearly 50% of pupils admitted they regularly avoided going to the toilet preferring to “hang on” until they got home. When asked about the reasons for this, up to 40% confessed to fear of being bullied when visiting the toilets.

Access to drinking water was also a key factor. Dehydration causes constipation, headaches, tiredness and a decreased concentration span.

Is Your Toilet a Target?

The lack of enforced regulation means that schools often have toilets up to 20 years old and conditions can often result in ill health and a lack of respect; encouraging bad and destructive behaviour.

Some schools encourage their girls to go in pairs due to locks not working and fear of being spotted by passing boys. This then disrupts the learning environment, with so many pupils leaving during a lesson.

The conditions in the toilets for some schools are so bad that it makes them an obvious target for vandalism and abuse. Pupils then occasionally congregate to smoke or generally be hostile to other pupils; ultimately making the loos a ‘no-go zone’ for the majority who genuinely wish to use them.

How Your School Can Ensure Best Practice

As much as Albany Healthy Schools help schools throughout the UK understand and introduce best practice, while we help you improve the overall standards of toilets, we also want to make the whole process fun and educational for your staff and pupils.

Here are some ideas which we will help to improve your school’s toilets as well as maintain best practice….

More Hands…

Ask your pupils to design and then paint the toilet walls themselves. You could even run competition to add incentive.

They will then feel ownership and responsibility for the space, hopefully discouraging vandalism and creating a welcoming communal area.

Spot Checks

We all acknowledge that good hygiene is important, especially for children who are more vulnerable to picking up germs than adults.

Try drawing up a rota which allocates a member of staff per hour to check the toilets. These spot checks should deter bullies and truancy.

Dry Your Hands Properly

Invest in hand dryers. Not only are hand dryers better for the environment and cheaper to maintain than paper towels, they are cleaner, reduce litter and give the naughtier children less opportunity to use them to block sinks.

Beat the Germs

Get soap dispensers instead of using bars of soap, which are often used in bullying tactics and in acts of vandalism. They are also prime hot spots for germs to breed and spread.

Also, ensure the bins and the feminine hygiene disposal units are emptied regularly and not left to overflow.

Ask the Experts

It’s always beneficial for the children for an expert to come in and explain how to use the toilets properly and why it’s important to wash and dry your hands correctly.

An interactive session can then be backed up by the teachers who feel confident their pupils now have the same level of attitude, application and awareness.

If you would like advice on how to improve the standards of your school hygiene please get in touch with us today.

The Albany Healthy Schools Team!