Does my daughter need a toilet pass?

Where is the money going to come from to build more toilets? Too much money is already spent on fixing toilet vandalism.

Request a toilet pass because it sounds like anxiety. I have about 3-4 in each class with a pass. Sometimes just having it reduces anxiety!

Can you start to address this? Is it just emerging now?

This is just one more reason why I am so pleased my children have left school. Imagine a workplace where the toilets are locked all day, except for half an hour at lunch and 15 minutes in the morning.

You mean like teachers’ workplaces?

Please ask for a toilet pass. I’m a teacher and last year one of my duties was “Year 7 toilets”. In a break time of 15 minutes, there were 240 Year 7’s and only 5 toilets, so probably a max of 15 kids got to use them.
Even with schools with more the queues are massive because kids use the toilet as an excuse to check their phone so are not quick. Also many schools have removed urinals so all buys use cubical as which again slows thins
gs up.
Our school doesn’t have enough toilets so kids can go in lessons which is a nightmare as a teacher as there is a constant stream of kids in and out of the lesson.

This locking of toilets is a recent thing, and what use is a toilet pass if the toilets are locked. Most children, knowing the situation, would wait until they were desperate before they asked to go, then would be unable to wait for someone to be found who could unlock the toilet. Would all those parents and teachers condoning this policy feel the same if their child came home having had an accident?

This is just one more reason why I am so pleased my children have left school. Imagine a workplace where the toilets are locked all day, except for half an hour at lunch and 15 minutes in the morning.

the best solution would be to get a group of parents together and apply pressure for better provision.
This. Pressure on the government to have minimum numbers of toilet cubicles, open at break and lunch, per number of pupils.

OP, if she has social anxiety and struggles in lessons, are you already in touch with the SENCO? This is ‘reasonable adjustment’ territory (eg, toilet pass or access to a quieter bathroom)

Presumably you didn’t have a phone that you’d just used under the table to arrange to meet your mate there, or a vape tucked into your bra?

Schools have totally different challenges now to the ones they had when we were at school.

It isnt. Damage to toilets can cost in the thousands. Parents dont pay for damage caused so that is money that should have gone elsewhere.

the problem with most schools is that they were built for significantly fewer pupils than they currently have. They dont have the size of facilities to deal with the numbers.

I’ve worked asa teacher in a school where students could queue all break and still not get to the toilet by the end. It definitely affects girls more than boys and I’m sure there’s probably a discrimination case in there somewhere. Schools really should have adequate toilet provision.

If you can get a medical note for your daughter, go for it, but ideally the best solution would be to get a group of parents together and apply pressure for better provision.

Yes this, they are opened enough for people to go no one's child is more precious than another, children need to go when it is opened

I think if parents would like schools to open toilets during lesson times they should volunteer to go and sit in them during those times to stop the vandalism, vaping etc, that has caused them needing to be closed.

@ButterAsADip while I agree that most teenagers are responsible and capable, I’m afraid there are also too many who use the toilets to vape, use social media on their phones, shove rubbish down the toilets etc etc so locking them during lessons is often the only practical solution. Believe it or not, teachers have more important things to do than patrol toilets! It should be possible for a teenager to go a couple of hours without having to use the loo.

Can you imagine toilet doors being kicked in, sexual assault and vaping indoors being accepted in the work place?

I am aghast that anyone is deprived of access to toilets.
Back in the 80's I had a particular Deputy Head that HATED anyone using toilets in lesson times. Even pupils with kidney conditions, like me. Op Id absolutely contact the GP regarding a toilet pass.

Can you imagine the outcry of this happened in the workplace. Students are treated like shit at school be it uniforms, toilets, food etc.......... no wonder some are rebelling.

Why should anyone have a pass? Let’s treat our teens like the responsible, capable humans we want them to be instead. Let them go to the toilet in lessons, they can’t do that responsibly at the moment because they’re locked! Would not be surprised if this locked loo situation is ongoing from when there was a whole other batch of pupils. Talk about learned incompetence.

What are you doing about this? She needs intervention now. She isnt working in class, isnt eating and drinking, wont go to the toilet because it is busy? What hell is she getting?

My daughter has a medical card for her enuresis. It means she is allowed out of lesson if she asks. But the toilets aren't locked. There are supervisors who go around checking toilets and taking names of the children who are out of lesson. My daughter is actually too nervous to ask to use the medical card but I am glad she has one for when she feels brave enough. It's difficult because primary would let her go whenever she needed to as she can't hold it in.

My son was given toilet pass, not for a medical reason, but because he wasn't drinking as the toilets were always broken or locked, and there was only one set year 7 were allowed to use. He is on the SEN register though.

It's awful. I know school isn't the workplace, but it does seem a useful rule of thumb that if something would get a union rep out instantly, it wouldn't be acceptable. There's a difference between not being able to use the loo immediately (like on a checkout) and the loos being completely off limits, for what could be quite a while (my school timetable had 2 hours between lunch break and the end of the day, and are the loos even open at the end of the day?). Social anxiety is a completely valid reason for the toilet pass so I'd get her one - even if she doesn't use it much the thought of it may help the anxiety.

My daughter has anxiety and can't ask to use the toilet or go when it's busy and the school gave her a toilet pass. She is under care for anxiety and has some other accommodations as well as this one. It's a horrible situation but she is doing much better with this and a couple other simple changes.

This topic blows my mind.

I'm pushing 40. I am so very old or did I just go to a reasonable school? We just asked the teacher in the lesson if we could go, they'd say yes, we'd go and come back.

Has this gatekeeping of toilets been around for ages or is it new?

It means the queues are so long that they are locked before everybody has been. My son and my friend's daughter have both had UTI's. Nobody dares have a drink. This is now spreading to primary schools and small
Children coming home wet. It's utterly disgusting.