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Background information for parents "To this day I would urge any prospective parent visiting a school
for the first time to ask the headteacher if they could visit the children’s
toilets. This would soon show whether the avowed caring ethos of the school
is enacted on a daily basis. It would also demonstrate how much the school
values and respects its pupils – the citizens we will come to rely
upon in the future." "Going to the toilet is more than just a physical reflex. The whole
ambience must be comfortable for adequate elimination. Specific funding
needs to be identified to ensure the minimum standard of toilets children
deserve. Basic improvement in toilet standards would be cost effective,
preventing future consequential urinary and bowel problems and outbreaks
of infectious diseases." When was the last time you checked out your children’s toilets at school? When you first went to look around, you probably checked out the computer suite that the school has spent thousands of pounds on and was keen to impress you with. Perhaps your child will get to use it once a week. But what about the toilets that s/he should be using several times a day? Surely there’s a law saying toilets should be clean and in working order? Yes, but only for adults’ toilets at work – and teachers’ toilets at school. Adults’ toilets must, by law, be kept clean, in working order, well-maintained and stocked at all times with toilet paper, soap and have hand drying facilities. The toilets for children, on the other hand, can, legally, be in any state at all. The law is only concerned with ensuring an acceptable number of toilets and washbasins for the number of children in the school: one toilet for every 20 children over the age of five. In Sweden the ratio is one to 15 children. But then I suppose school toilets have always been grotty Matters have improved since a 1944 Women’s Institute survey found that one village school in two had an earth or bucket toilet. However, there are plenty of school toilets today that are so repellent that children only use them if desperate, or even hang on all day until they get home. We are now much more aware of the impact of repellent toilets on children: there’s a growing catalogue of evidence of short and long-term health problems that affect children’s physical and mental health and learning. At least there are few, if any, outside toilets todayIn theory, it’s a lot better to have toilets inside the school away from the cold and the rain and in buildings where the teachers are. But, in practice, it’s a bit of a mixed blessing. At least children could access them when they were in the playground. Now some children are not allowed to go to the toilet when they need to, because staff don’t want children inside during breaks. What is needed are inside toilets, with direct access from within the school as well as directly from the playground. But I suppose it will be expensive to improve all the toilets? Certainly refurbishments and new toilets can cost several thousands of pounds. But then all those computers aren’t cheap either. If, to take just one example, you calculate the cost to the NHS of treating all the children with urinary and bowel problems, caused or exacerbated by poor toilets at school, then spending money on the toilets doesn’t seem such a big deal after all. There are actually a lot of low-budget solutions that can make a big difference to pupils’ toilets and transform them from a ‘hellhole’ into somewhere decent. All it takes is a real commitment to put toilets high in the list of priorities and to work with the pupils in implementing a few simple changes. What are the low-budget solutions? Low-budget solutions include:
What is the Bog Standard campaign doing about pupils' toilets? We’re aiming to get pupils’ toilets
on the agenda in every school and in government. We started off by organising
a survey of school toilets and drinking water. This was carried out mainly
by school nurses of the CPHVA (Community Practitioners’ and Health
Visitors’ Association) across the UK during the summer term in 2003.
The results are on the Bog Standard website on the Survey Results page.
The survey has given us the necessary data to lobby government and local
education authorities to improve pupils’ toilets – and to
provide drinking water away from toilet areas. In 2006 we introduced a
three–tier School Toilet Award, being piloted in association with
local co-ordinators from the government’s Healthy Schools Programme,
to recognise and promote good toilet provision for pupils in schools.
You can read about the Award on the Bog Standard website on the Healthy
Schools page. We have also been working with architects on a Department
of Education and Skills project (expected to be published in 2007) that
provides guidance on design, standardised specifications, layouts and
dimensions for secondary school toilets. Can clean toilets really make a difference? Have you ever had to use public toilets that made you cringe with disgust and choke on the smell? Well, that’s what some children have to put up with every day. We need to ensure that children can use toilets that have the same standards as are required in work places. Many adults would not tolerate the conditions which our children are expected to put up with at school. What’s wrong with expecting children to wait until breaks? Well, it certainly helps if children can be sure of regular breaks throughout the day. But sadly, there is an increasing trend, even at primary level, to abolish an afternoon break – in order to fit in as many hours in the classroom as possible to meet targets and in order to avoid the possibility of incidents in the playground. It can be two hours or longer before a break. Then it’s a scrum in the toilets with no hope of privacy. Children's bladders and bowels can't be programmed to a school timetable of set times, which may not be drawn up with the best interest of children's toilet (and drinking and eating) needs in mind. Even where schools do, in theory, allow pupils to use the toilets between or during lessons, if you speak to your children you may discover that the reality is somewhat different. If you can’t get to the toilet when you need to, you’re certainly not going to be encouraged to drink adequately at school either. Just imagine if the same restrictions on going to the toilet at set times were implemented in most offices, say 15 minutes at 10:25 and 30 minutes at 12:30 – there would be uproar! Shouldn’t the government be doing something? Absolutely. We need the same laws for children in schools as adults have in the workplace. But to get changes in law, we need:
It’s ironic how people are always complaining about over-regulation and the ‘nanny state’, yet when it comes to children, who are amongst the most vulnerable and least listened to members of our society, the only legislation that exists is a minimum number of toilets. For further information, see our factsheet on legislation relating to toilet provision for pupils and adults. The current climate of thinking doesn’t look too favourable at the moment, as the trend is to de-regulate schools and hand over more freedom to headteachers. Fine if your head puts toilets high on his/her list of priorities – and thankfully there are some of those. But that doesn't help pupils whose headteachers are not interested in improving toilets. As staff are not the ones who have to use pupils' toilets, most rarely, if ever, go inside them. There are also too few parents complaining about the toilets. Therefore, there is no real incentive to do anything. In the meantime, children are suffering. So what can we, as parents, do? There are lots of things that parents can do. See below for ideas. The Bog Standard website has a range of resources to help, including other factsheets like this one, a poster and lobby letter templates. Involving your child
In school
Talking to teachers, the head and governors
Working with pupils, teachers and other parents
Enlist the help of the Children’s Commissioner Encourage your child to write to the office of their regional Children's Commissioner. It is their job to help children. It is best if your child writes, but you can write on behalf of your child, or in your child's name. Children's Commissioners may not be able take up individual cases, but can write to your child's school if the issue being raised has wider implications for a larger number of pupils. They don't have the powers to force a school to change, but they can:
If you are in Wales Email post@childcomwales.org.uk Ofsted inspections About every three years an inspection team from Ofsted inspects your child’s school. The school will know this about two to three days before the inspection. As a parent of a child at the school, you will be given a questionnaire to fill in. This is an ideal opportunity to mention the school toilets and raise your concerns. You can also mention any concerns with drinking water provision and access. Now included in Ofsted inspections is “the extent to which the provision contributes to the learners’ capacity to stay safe and healthy.” You can write directly to the chief inspector, whose name and contact details should be provided by the school. The more parents mention the toilets, the more the toilets will be taken seriously. Funding
Petitions and letters
Funding
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