Children being allowed to go to the toilet at school

Just pointing out that teachers aren't allowed to leave classes unattended to go to the toilet either.

I remember being at school in the 90s. I don't think I ever remember a single incident of a child asking to use the toilet during a lesson.

We used to go at break times and knew we had to wait otherwise, the longest time between breaks was less than 2 hours.

Obviously some children have medical issues, but as a general rule…why is it now a thing that a two hour window is too long between toilet breaks? Some schools it may only be an hour. Dealing with kids going in and out of class, messing around in the corridor, not coming back to class, having to be told what they’ve missed when they return…must be incredibly disruptive to lessons.

If a child can sit through a movie at the cinema or watch a gig without toilet breaks…why can’t they manage the same timings at school?

I'd be involving my MP on this.

Then I'd have to summon help like I do for the students.

I don't know why people have difficulty comprehending this. I can't leave a bunch of 15 year olds unattended.

I’d be writing a letter of complaint to the headteacher and then the governors. Can you imagine if a company tried to do that rule in an office? And what if someone started their period, they need to wait 2 hours? Absolutely ridiculous.

I should have added my DD was told she couldn’t use the toilet a few years ago when she was 9. It caused her to wet herself in front of her peers in class. A totally avoidant situation that triggered a whole anxiety issue about needing a wee. It still affects her to this day, she will never forget having a basic right taken away from her and the embarrassment it caused. It wouldn’t happen in any other setting so why do we allow our children to be treated that way?!

Agree with this!!!

I had IBS as a kid and I absolutely needed to use the loo during class

That's like saying you should choose another school or home educate!

There are plenty of jobs where you need to wait for the toilet-loads!
At least your kids get a substantial amountnof breaktime each day!

These parents will be the first to complain /sue when their little darling gets bullied, takes drugs, has sex in the toilets!

Yes. We leave whenever we feel like it. A class of 30 alone for 10/15 minutes is completely safe and predictable!

Or maybe you’re incorrect and we to end up having to wait until break time. I did think this would be pretty bloody obvious.

If a teacher has to wait for a break to use the loo at least she doesn't have to join a great big queue, maybe they should and would see how ridiculous it is

Yep. 2 toilets for female staff at my school so queues ahoy.

fuckeditupbadly:
Two toilets for a school with 1,000 pupils! Things have gone very wrong indeed thats all I can say. Maybe bring it up with the Governors

Do you think all teachers have a private toilet each? Why don’t you think a school of teachers all using the same break to go to toilet don’t have to queue? Shock. We do.

Do you have kids vaping, and taking loads of time creating a huge queue? Or nice clean facilities with sensible adults.

Oh gosh thanks. If only we'd thought of that 😁

Nice clean facilities with sensible adults. Hence why our toilets aren’t needed to be kept locked.

Stupid kids trash the toilets, therefore, toilets are locked at certain points so all children can use the facilities at break time.

We have behaviour issues in the loos and I’m in primary (toilet seats ripped off, locks broken off, tissue paper blocking the sink and taps left on to flood the floor). We can’t exclude children for vandalism. We can exclude a child for violence but that’s not a permanent exclusion. It’s extremely hard to permanently exclude these days.

Another poster suggested about lessons being less boring so that kids weren’t bored and wanting to bunk off. We have to teach what’s in the National Curriculum so blame the Govt (Gove). I can’t just skip teaching adverbials because some kids don’t enjoy it.
Schools (and by extension, staff) are stuck in a hard place. Believe it or not, I want to work in a more pleasant atmosphere where kids can be trusted to use the loos respectfully but that’s not current reality.

And I do sympathise OP as someone who’s suffered UTIs and has IBS. Glad you’re taking DD to the GP, hopefully you’ll get what you need so she can get a pass.

The answer to it all? More money needs to go into education. But raising taxes isn’t a vote winner so I won’t hold my breath.

Just this week in the news was the story about a teenage boy who committed suicide in the toilets of his school.

This is only one of many reasons why schools won't allow pupils unlimited access to a place that they don't have money to keep supervised at all times.

Are you sure about that?

At my last school there were two sites. On one site there were male and female toilets. On the other there were unisex toilets only. At the latter there were often up to 20 members of staff trying to use two unisex cubicles at break time.

That's the same for us carers. But we would never, ever deny someone the basic human right of going to the toilet. Our pay is deducted 1.5hrs per 12hr shift for "breaks" but we can't take them. People don't need to use the toilet on a specific schedule so why are schools expecting children to do so?

For all the aforementioned reasons.