Unisex toilets in Secondary School

DD 14 secondary has normal loos and she won't go at school if she can help it. She is often seen doing the wee dance on the door step when she gets home from school.

DS 16 has an after school job at the local sports centre and thinks the ladies changing room and loos are far more disgusting than the mens.

and I have not heard any complaint about the loos at the new build school I talked about above.

I have decided that I wont send my dc to a school with unisex loos - unless they absolutely dont have a problem with it. 'Deal breaker' for me.

New build (2005) primary schools near us have separate girls and boys- i cant see why it should be any different at secondary level.

If its the noise of a tampon wrapper ripping which is the problem, what difference does it make whether the sink is in the cubicle or not?

Steamed - so true!
Imagine ripping open a wrapper, taking ages in the cubicle (because sometimes it just does) and coming out to realise the boy you secretly fancy was in the cubicle next door. Now you think he knows you are on your period, oh joy. I think for a 13 or 14 yo girl that must be absolutely horrible and humiliating.

Yes, I'm sure the children using the loos are totally fine with it!
What about the ones who are just not going? I would have absolutely hated unisex loos as a child - and knowing what I was like I would have avoided going at all costs.

Not giving girls a private, safe space where they can learn to deal with their periods is imo cruel and potentially damaging to some children. I agree with steamedTS - I was just like that.
I feel strongly about the issue, and would put unisex loos on the Cons list when comparing schools for my kids.

Are the schools really saying they can't handle bullying in loos any other way??
Someone should do a proper survey and find out how young girls really feel about this.

(I'm concerned about it from the girls' point of view, because I have girls and am thinking about it from my own personal experience. But maybe there are also issues for boys?)

If they are going to be cubicles with washbasins inside, like most disabled toilets, I wouldn't see that as a problem. If they're just a row of stalls with shared sinks etc, I would be really unhappy about it. I remember being terribly embarrassed when I was at school and had my period, having to rip open a pad or a tampon wrapper - I hated the idea of anyone being able to hear what I was doing, and that was just in the girl's loos.

who has just used it - doesn't matter, why would it?

the state it is in - relates to common politeness and decency, not gender

baner when you get out - no idea what that is

It's about you and about everyone who finds being in a cubicle next to a man/boy significantly different to being in a cubicle next to a woman/girl.

Piss and shit everywhere is about common politeness, not about gender. I've been in female toilets where there has been blood on seats and walls. I didn't think "woman are disgusting", I thought "some people are disgusting".

I think its incredably naive to imagine perving and other foolishness wont go on in unisex loos tbh.

I wouldnt want to use unisex loos as an adult (unless it was a portaloo at a festival or something) so I can easily imagine why teenagers of either gender wouldnt want to.

Bound to cause a higher incidence of UTIs, constipation, dehydration and not eating at school.

Because girls don't go to the loo at school but hold it in until they get home. They avoid drinking during the day to enable this.

My DD's school has unisex loos like 2madboys - one side for girls and one for boys ,the sinks are communal- no mirrors.They have a toilet attendant. My dd's hate it as do all their friends and try not to go. It was designed to cut down on bullying and hanging around in front of mirrors etc.

Lots of their friends have braces and retainers and are meant to clean their teeth at lunch - but won't because of the communal sinks - so they don't eat at school and many don't drink enough water to avoid going to the toilet. You have to leave your bag with the attendant and so you need to explain and take out sanitary products which is embarassing.

I think if they had put little sinks in the cubicles it would be fine

'extremely high incidence of UTIs among girls is directly attributable to that'

how does this work?

In France unisex toilets in schools are very common and the extremely high incidence of UTIs among girls is directly attributable to that.

I think it's really yukky when a non related male uses our house toilet

Sounds like you have toilet issues. Let's hope that a more open and less "boys smell" or "toilets are disgusting" attitude to toilets at school will mean that your children do not inherit this.

It seems a bit weird if they are communal for mirrors and sinks-I should think the only people who like them are mothers with sons-who appear to want them.

In all of the new builds I know of around here, the unisex blocks are of the 2 rows of cubicles with bank of sinks and mirrors down the centre - don't know of any with washbasin inside cubicle.

It's the staff ones I hate the most - sometimes you just want to fix your make-up and fluff your hair up a bit, feel daft doing that while making small talk with the male headteacher etc.

I would have thought that those reluctant to use them would prefer unisex as they won't see another DC.-they simply go in, lock the door and come out finished and there is no need to be with others to wash hands etc-it is all private.

My kids are very reluctant to use school loos anyway I think this would just make it worse. Around here we've had them built where they have a glass wall to a corridor/reception, so other than the cubicles there is no privacy. Then there is the head who got into trouble formatting CCTV in the toilets.

Do you have a son exotic fruits?

I have 3 sons Colleger! I was also a single mother for 6 years and I didn't have the paranoia to force him into the ladies with me-and he wouldn't have gone either!
I never see boys over 6yrs in the ladies loo in RL, but have taken part in many threads on MN where women insist on either hogging the disabled loo or taking them into the ladies without a care about what anyone thinks-they want unisex loos. Therefore I think it a bit rich to then say -but not in schools!! (surely they would be completely private cubicles with wash hand basins inside them?)

If the school is that big, I can't see why they can't build male female blocks back to back. It would be pennies compared to a build cost of that level. It must be a big school therefore there will need to be plenty of provision.

All disabled / accessible toilets are unisex.

You will probably find they are not the toilet cubicals with wash basins outside but a cubical that has a toilet and wash basin and sanitry towel bin so actually more private.

A lot of schools are going for this because it cuts bullying

73million for one school?? are you sure?