To report DC school for rats?

[LurpakIstheOnlyButter]

DC go to local primary. The school itself is fantastic, really happy with quality of teaching etc, OFSTEAD rating is good. The children also go to the after school club on the premises, also fantastic.

However......today as I collected from after school club as we opened the door to leave, a HUGE rat ran across from directly next to the door and into the kids playground. When I say huge, it was almost a foot long. This thing was the Range Rover of rats.

I calmly went back in and mentioned it to staff, who were not at all surprised. The caretaker was also present and said that they lived near the bins which had recently had lids put on. Before, they would run out of the bins when he was putting rubbish in. Now they have no food they are all over the school grounds.

DD11 remarked that in English they were watching rats run on the grass banking on the edge of the playground. DD6 started to panic, not helped by caretaker when she asked if the rat was in the little playground bin - he stuck his arm in the bin and started to scream. She made me carry her to the car and got upset at bedtime asking if rats would eat her shoes!

I am not one for being precious. I know rats are everywhere. But I can't believe that no one bats an eye about truck sized rats running around a primary school.

I think there are definitely health implications here, this is not acceptable and something should be done. I plan to speak to the head but AIBU to report school to environmental health/council?

[PenelopeFlintstone]

YADNBU!!!

[TooExtraImmatureCheddar]

Yes, report them to Env Health!

[KlondikeBar]

It was World Rat Day yesterday. Maybe they were just all out celebrating?

[WorraLiberty]

The caretaker sounds crap.

They should have those little Rentokil boxes all over the place and especially by the bins.

Yes, I would report.

[AtSea1979]

YABU for carrying a primary aged child anywhere but YANBU to be concerned about the contamination in the canteen.

[WorraLiberty]

Klondike

[WooMeBaby]

Rats in the daytime is never a good sign

[BearHunting]

YANBU.

There's diseases that can be carried and spread by rats. Weil's disease for one, that can be spread through rats urine.

[user1491323019]

Klond

I don't know OP.

Schools are magnets for seagulls, crows and magpies so rats doesn't surprise me.

[Toddlerteaplease]

I would have absolutely freaked out. I'm really phobic of rodents.

[hamandmustard]

They cant really take effective action to kill rats when the school is open as the poison cant be used with children about and usually a weekend is not long enough to lay the poison and it to take effect. They also need to get the corpses cleared. I think they also rat trap etc

I am sure that they will address it over the holidays. That is usually rat blitzing time.

The rat was outside?

[LurpakIstheOnlyButter]

Yes the rat was outside. The kids seemed to think it was normal to watch them out of the window.

Years ago I had them in my house due to a damaged sewer pipe. They got into the walks and under the floorboards and even into the back of my kitchen cupboards and ate all the dog biscuits. It was horrible, but soon got sorted by rentokil.

They are ballsy running around in daylight with people around, I like that less.

[UserOne]

woome why are rats in the daytime worse than nighttime?

[NotStoppedAllDay]

Well they have to live somewhere!

At least it doesn't sound like the building itself has an infestation. We have rats at work

They are getting harder to get rid of
They breed faster than they can be killed
Rentokill prices are beyond most schools budgets

[HarrietSchulenberg]

Sadly it's not unusual. My secondary school has rats, and mice too. The number of kids who drop food everywhere (despite only being supposed to eat in the canteen) means they get a renewable daily food supply.
I've only ever seen a mouse in the daytime once. It had drowned in a puddle and had been found by an over exited Y10 boy who was chasing the Y9 s round with it. He was made to drop it into the caretaker's bin and scrub his hands afterwards.

[LurpakIstheOnlyButter]

Because they hide and are frightened of people? If they are not frightened they can and do attack people as I understand?

Please feel free to correct if I am mislead by James Herbert!

I still can't get over the size of the one I saw.

[PenelopeFlintstone]

Well they have to live somewhere!

Do they?

Rat traps are cheap, effective and reusable. The caretaker could empty the traps every morning before the kids arrived, and so they could be attended to all year round rather than just in the holidays.

[LadyDeadpool]

Well they have to live somewhere!

Do they?

Yes, same as you do. In fact the rats were here first so why don't we trap and kill humans for simply living? Steps have been taken to remove their food source. They'll move on now no need for killing them.

[KlondikeBar]

Is this the school?

Sorry I appreciate I'm being quite unhelpful

[tethersend]

I was once teaching a Y9 lesson and a rat fell out of the heating vent on to the middle of the table as I was doing a demonstration.

[2017SoFarSoGood]

Thanks folks. You have now officially broken MN for me. If not the internet. just thanks.

is it unreasonable to want something like google maps to perform rodent counts of the entire universe just so I can avoid them?

NNNNNNNNU.

[Witchend]

When I was in year 5 I was off swimming with another girl and left to tidy the craft cupboard. We came across a nest of mice. They were so sweet!
We carefully put the stuff back and didn't tell the teacher because we didn't want them disturbed.

[FairytalesAreBullshit]

Do your DC's break up this Friday? I would speak to the head & say if they don't sort it over the holidays then you'll keep DC off till it's sorted and you'll share the news.

Def NU, the health risks are very real, in my job, or old job, if we get a cold we have to go to the Dr's with cards for various rat born illnesses. We didn't deal with them direct, just through the job we did there was a chance of illness.