Before I make an arse of myself at school tomorrow, please can you tell me...

At my school I let them go if they go one at a time. Though if the class is messing about and the asker is a chief messer-abouter I am liable to say not until they have done some work.

As I understand it I can say no tho, ie permission is at my discretion. Apart from those with a medical card. Lots of schools don't allow it at all.

trinity yr DD would have a medical card at my school, you should pursue that.

But sometimes we have to lock them during lesson time:

Like the time they went through a craze of tuning all the taps on and leaving them causing £1000's worth of damage
Like the time the boys took to peeing all over the floor
Like the time they took to crapping in the toilets but not in the actual toilet
Like being the hangout for the gangs innit
Like unscrewing the doors but leaving them suspended on a bit of the screw, so they fell off when someone tried to use them

Sometimes we have to take a stand. Otherwise they would wreck them

Loving the idea of the toilet nun

Not normally during lesson time unless there is a medical issue.

DeWe- we know the kids! If you realise that about your DDs, so do the other adults who spend a fair bit of time with them!

If your DD1 virtually never asked, that'd be a good enough reason for me to let her go without question. If your DD2 regularly danced round dramatically then she'd be told to go back to her seat!

Reinstate the toilet nun!

Always there with her knitting and rosary to keep and eye on us and look after anyone chucking up etc. Pristine loos with no graffiti no cigarette smells and locks on all the doors unlike my other secondary school where you went to the loo at your peril

When i was at school, it only took one little sod to have a sly ciggie in the toilets which activated the sprinkler, or set fire to a bin for a laugh, or threw soggy loo roll everywhere, and it used to cause a situation where toilets had to be locked.

Luckily, where I work, we have CCTV everywhere which is checked regularly (not actually in the toilet cubicles themselves) and our toilets are clean, light, bright, open and shared by staff. A bit like shopping centre or service centre toilets. It seems to work, virtually no bullying (in the toilets, anyway).

I know a lot of people are saying "no unless they're really desperate". But really, how does a teacher tell that they're really desperate?

I suspect dd2 would do a fantastic "I am really desperate" if she wanted to go, without necessarily needing to at all. Whereas dd1 wouldn't want to ask unless she was absolutely bursting, and would make it sound like she would "quite like to go".

I wet myself a few times at school because bullies hung around the toilets at break and some teachers hmiliated me if I asked in lessons.

I also used to find the classroom environment unbearable a lot of the time - too much movement and noise - and needed to go and sit in a cubicle to calm down. I ended up carrying blades and self harming in class to keep myself from panic.

Ffs. Locking toilets.

As a teacher I don't refuse a genuine need. I might delay them a little if we're doing something important, but even then if they were jiggling I'd let them go. Never in pairs though, and if they miss an important point of put themselves behind on the work I might keep them back for just a couple of minutes. Never framed as a punishment though- more as a 'favour' to them so they don't miss the learning. I find this puts off the malingerers!

The school I am currently at discourage going during lessons but it's up to individual teachers to decide on a case by case basis if it is actually an emergency. I have been known to get pupils to stay at break to make up the time if it is happening regularly, that seems quite common at our school, but not for a one-off.

At my last school the toilets were locked during lessons because of vandalism and some 'trading' problems that were going on in the toilets when there was nobody on duty. Pupils would arrange a time to go and meet at the toilets from separate classes and cause chaos, so the rule was that nobody was allowed to go. In an absolute emergency then pupils had to go to the office and be accompanied by one of the admin staff.

It depends on the school but unless there have been serious issues with the use of the toilets during lessons then I wouldn't expect them to be locked during lesson times.

Medical card if there is an issue

Otherwise, it is at teacher's discretion. So Y11 lads who ask every single lesson - no. Y9 girl who asks once in a blue moon - yes.

1 at a time, not within 10 mins of a break (either way), and only if I think they look like they genuinely need to go. (If I think they are a time waster, I say 'not right now we're doing X, generally the ones who don't need to go wont ask again- I'm sadly not scary enough that they wouldn't ask again if desperate)

Our lessons are 100 minutes too. It's very much a case of discretion. A great number of kids are bored/just want to go for a wander. You have to quickly suss out if it's a genuine need. So,no hard and fast rule really. Toilets certainly not locked. In fact, no doors at all, just one big unisex area.

Your Dd would get a medical card at my school trinity.

I'm not sure one hour gaps between toilet breaks are an abuse of human rights really.

DD can go to the loo whenever she wants (she needs to drink several litres of water a day), but it's written into her care plan, so all staff know. Some of the toilets are locked during lessons, but worst case scenario she goes to the medical room where she has a understanding with matron.

A couple of teachers have been a bit arsey about it, at least initially, but she's got a reputation for not mucking around and being a "good" student, so it's not currently a problem.

For DC without medical needs, mostly they're told to hang on till the end of the lesson, but discretion is used. There's always a loo they can use, but as above, it may be via matron, and checking up is done if it's felt necessary (DD earwigs when she's in with matron )

Your dd needs a toilet pass to show a member of staff.

We let them go generally at our school and it diesn't seem to be abused (It's a v nice school mind!).

I guess I might ask if they could wait if there were say 10 mins left of the lesson.

I also only let one go at a time.

We don't lock toilets or have vandalism issues.

A student with ibs at my school would be issued with a medical card and teachers would have to allow her to go to the toilet whenever she asked. Trinity get your doctor to write a note insisting that she be allowed access to the toilet, the school would have to acknowledge it.

DD1 said 'surely it's against your human rights to not be allowed to go to the loo when you need to.'

She added that they are discouraged from going in lesson time but if genuinely desperate it's ok.

dd1 has been having trouble with this
the school doesnt want to let anyone to the loo
she has ibs and has had some scary moments

the school seems to only cater for the arseholes

I just asked my dd (yr 7) - the toilets aren't locked & she says it depends on the teacher whether they let you go or not. They wouldn't be at all impressed if they asked to go in first, third or fifth period (i.e. immediately after registration/break/lunch) but would let them go in either of the others.

Our lessons are 100 mins.

Students are allowed to go if they ask but one at a time.