Once more into the breach - dear friends.
A start-of-term update, and I’d appreciate some help from those here with expertise in school premises, safeguarding and equality law.
My daughter has now given me a more detailed account of the toilets. In one block, the male and female signs are on individual cubicle doors, each containing one toilet. Those cubicles open into one communal washroom. There is a set of sinks for girls and another for boys, but no wall or partition separating the two areas.
There are also three unisex toilets. Each is a fully enclosed, floor-to-ceiling room with a toilet, its own sink and a door that locks from inside. However, those doors also open into the same communal washroom, rather than directly onto the school corridor.
In another block, my daughter describes cubicles whose walls and doors have gaps above and below, again with no wall separating the sink areas.
My daughter hasn’t heard any instructions about who may use which toilets, although she also hasn’t seen anyone using a cubicle labelled for the opposite sex.
- [paragraph removed at OP's request]
I am certain the toilet arrangements described here remain non-compliant. The washroom itself is still mixed sex, with separation confined to labels on cubicle doors and different banks of sinks. That does not give girls a separate washroom or privacy from boys while washing.
The partly enclosed cubicles raise an additional concern if they are also within mixed-sex accommodation. The three enclosed rooms provide better individual privacy, but their existence doesn’t resolve the problems with the rest of the provision.
[KCSIE 2026, paragraph 113](assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/6a9081309a177a1decf97b00/Keeping_children_safe_in_education_2026.pdf), says additional mixed-sex toilets should be individual lockable rooms opening directly onto public areas, such as a corridor. I’d particularly welcome views on how that applies to doors opening into this communal washroom.
The recent [DE and FG v West Lothian Council judgment](www.scotcourts.gov.uk/media/mv5d53jw/2026csoh52-petition-of-de-and-fg-against-west-lothian-council.pdf) also seems very relevant: sex-labelled cubicles, shared washing areas and some self-contained alternatives, with a finding of indirect sex discrimination. I appreciate that the Scottish premises regulations differ from England’s, so I’m particularly interested in its Equality Act reasoning.
Could those who know this area help with:
- The precise English requirements governing separation of the whole toilet accommodation, including washing areas.
- How the individual lockable-room exception applies where a cubicle has no internal sink and users must wash in a mixed-sex area.
- Whether the access arrangements described meet KCSIE’s expectations for private toilets and changing facilities.
- Any further safeguarding or equality breaches we should be considering, and the evidence needed to establish them.