There are lots of things that parents can do to help improve pupils' toilets. The Bog Standard website has a range of resources to help, including a wide range of factsheets, letter templates, a poster and information on how to contact people like your Local Education Authority or MP.

• Ask your child about their toilets, so you can be sure of your facts. When are pupils allowed access to the toilets? What sort of state are the toilets in? Is there enough privacy?
• Your child could do a survey to find out what other pupils think about the toilets. The pupils' section of the Bog Standard website has a survey template.
• What does s/he think should be done about the toilets? Does s/he have any suggestions or ideas?
• If your school has a school council, encourage your child to ask his or her representative to speak at the next meeting (and all subsequent meetings).
• If s/he wants to, your child can organise a petition amongst pupils. A petition form is available in the pupils' section on the Bog Standard website.
  

In school

• Schools are most sensitive to comments when you’re a prospective parent so always ask to be shown the pupils' toilets when you make a visit – and comment on what you find.
• Ask prospective schools when children are allowed to visit the toilets.
• Regularly take a look at the pupils’ toilets when you're in school/picking your child up. It's a good idea to ask permission from a teacher and have them escort you into the toilets.

Talking to teachers, the head and governors

• If access to toilets is restricted, raise the issue of access with your child's teacher and follow this up with a letter.
• Raise the issue of pupils’ toilets calmly and politely with the headteacher and school governors (ask them to visit the pupils' toilets – some governors may never have done so).
• Contact the school nurse to ask if s/he can talk to the school about this issue (the school office can give you contact details).Maintenance and replacement costs need to be considered.
• Talk to other parents – what do their children think?
• Tell your school about the Bog Standard campaign and/or this website
  The web address is www.bog-standard.org.
• Put up a poster/flyer/leaflet with the headteacher's permission. A poster is available from the pupils' section of the Bog Standard website.
• The government is providing record funding for improving and building new secondary and primary schools over the next few years. Now is the chance to focus on toilet design. In primary schools, encourage the school to consider providing toilets (single toilet or two toilets – one for girls and another for boys) with each classroom (or classroom cluster) so that access would be from the classroom and under supervision. In secondary schools, encourage the school to consider smaller groups of toilets and to look at our page for Designers and Architects.

Working with pupils, teachers and other parents

• Find out what your PTA is doing about the pupils' toilets.
• Suggest the PTA fundraises to improve the toilets.
• Seek permission to form a working party with pupils to paint the toilets, put up colourful tiles, create a mural – initial, cosmetic changes can help raise morale and encourage pupils to look after toilets in the short-term.
• Tap into the skills and contacts of parents and governors to make greater improvements.
  

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:

• write to the school for you, if you give them your school's address. Don't worry - they won’t reveal your or your child’s name!
• write to your Local Education Authority
• help your child write to the head teacher, your Local Education Authority or Board of Governors

Ofsted inspections

Funding

• Appeal for sponsorship to fund refurbishments from local businesses through an open letter to readers in your local paper or approach businesses directly.
• Invite sponsorship of a full-time toilet supervisor and cleaner. Write an open letter to readers in your local paper or approach businesses directly.
• Talk to the headteacher about any funding opportunities available through the LEA or from the government.
• Discuss the issue of funding for the toilets with the headteacher and then with his/her backing get the governors to inspect the toilets and make improving them a priority in the next year’s budget.
• If you have any disabled pupils, schools now have to have the correct facilities. This could mean getting a refurbishment carried out by your LEA.
• For more ideas, have a look at the funding and fundraising factsheet on www.bog-standard.org.

• If, having done all this, or having failed to get the staff on side, you consider that the school is not taking toilets (the state of them or issues of access) seriously enough, why not start a petition, or encourage the pupils to do so?
• Write to the Secretary of State for Education and Skills at Sanctuary Buildings, Great Smith Street, London, SW1P 3BT. He or she has the power to direct schools to meet regulations.
• Encourage your child to write to their regional Children’s Commissioner.
• Send a lobby letter to
  • the school's headteacher
  • school governors
  • your local MP
  • your Local Education Authority
  • the Department for Education and Skills
  • the Department of Health
    
    You can get letter templates from the Bog Standard website and can adapt them to cover the precise issues that affect your school. There are also letter writing tips and how to contact people.
• Write to the Department for Education and Skills (DfES) to ask them to bring the Education (School Premises) Regulations 1999 in line with The Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations (1992). This is also the place to write to for complaints about schools not meeting the standards - which for pupils is limited merely to the number of toilets and washrooms per pupil. The address is: School Premises Team, DfES, Caxton House, Room 762, 6-12 Tothill Street, London, SW1H 9NF. Email Premises.School@dfes.gov.uk. For more information about the law on toilet provision for adults and for pupils, look at the legislation factsheet on the Information section of the website.
• Write to your local paper.

• Share your experiences on the Bog Standard website – we post some of the comments that we receive unless you ask us not to.
• The more people that talk to us, the more support we will have for the campaign.
• It would be useful if you could send us a copy of any replies you receive from your lobby letters. Contact us by email or post.

You can telephone us on 0117 960 3060.

You can e-mail info@bogstandard.org.

You can write to us at:

ERIC
34 Old School House
Britannia Road
Kingswood
Bristol
BS15 8DB