I am not the pee troll

[Feefeetrixabelle]

Just a very important disclaimer there and again here I’m not the pee troll.

However I am surprised by how many parents on this forum are stating that their children are being refused access to the bathroom during school hours and I think it’s something we as a forum could have an impact on. So my Aibu is this- what is a fair bathroom policy in school? And once we have a unified response Aibu to start a campaign about it?

Again not the pee troll.

The best solution I've seen was to permit a 10 minute "grace" time between lessons to allow for changeover and toilet break. It meant a shorter lunch, but there were several times for access when there would be high traffic (so less likely for a lone pupil to be cornered) more staff around to spot issues, and also less of the log jam you can get if access is restricted to just break and lunch . You then had to have a toilet pass for access in addition to this
The problem with access during lessons is that staff are in class, students have phones to coordinate, and not everyone can judge whether a student really needs to go, or is up for mischief.

For the time mine went to school I always told them to go whether the teacher was happy or not and if the teacher had an issue take it up with me.

Even during the dark days of the 1960s - when schools had smacking, slippering & caning - we were allowed to go to the loo during lessons.

Schools mostly realised that even such sanctions couldn't stop children needing the toilet

I’ve told my son that if he’s refused permission, he should just go to the loo and I’ll deal with the school fall-out.

I understand that rules are in place to stop kids taking the (ahem) piss and using it as an excuse to get out of lessons, but it seems that a draconian enforcement isn’t fair.

I have a vague memory that at my secondary school the ability to leave lessons to go to the loo was considered a privilege extended to everyone on the agreement that you wouldn't abuse it. If you did abuse it you risked losing that trust and losing your toilet privileges.

In secondary school kids can use going to the toilet as an excuse to avoid work and will often arrange with kids in other classes the times they will ask to go to the toilet so they can meet up for a chat etc. They go a maximum of 2 hours in the day without an opportunity to go (break/lunch etc). If they have a medical reason they have a toilet pass. It starts a chain reaction if you let one kid go four more will suddenly all desperately need to go and you end up with kids coming in and out every 5 minutes disrupting the lesson. If a kid without a toilet pass asks to go I tell them to ask me again in 10 minutes. 99% of them will not ask again as they have forgotten, been distracted by the lesson or it's now too late to meet up with their mates. If they ask me again after the 10 minutes I usually let them go.

We didn't have that chain reaction back in the 60s
It was very occasionally that anyone asked to go, especially in grammer school, but they were always allowed

grammar !

Poor Pee-Troll. Get it? 🤣

@BigChocFrenzy I'd suggest watching the BBC documentary 'School' to see what things are going on in schools these days. It is a very sad and accurate reflection.

www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episodes/b0brj5df

Hmm our policy is that children (secondary) aren't allowed to the toilet during the lesson unless they have a medical pass, but staff do also have discretion. We also have a 10 min changeover between lessons that gives time to go if necessary without disrupting the learning. My classes also know that I absolutely honor that changeover time (as do all regular staff, but supply sometimes get confused) and that I have to step out during that time (I'm diabetic and so need to check/potentially treat during that time). That said, some of you would hate me, just this week (in the same lesson) which was immediately after lunch break and the last lesson until the end of the day, I refused toilet access to one boy. He hates my subject, presents with poor behavior, always has an excuse as to why he can't get on with the work set - even when appropriately differentiated and he 'asked' by shouting out across my classroom whilst I was explaining the task. He 'asks' in this manor at some point in every.single.lesson. I refuse him, he should go at lesson changeover/breaktimes. In contrast, to the chap who waited until I had explained the task and got everyone started on the work, and then put his hand up and quietly asked if he could use the toilet was allowed out immediately.

I suppose that makes me a bad person.

Just makes you bias in treating people differently as im sure you want to be treated equally too and it probably adds to why the kid hates your lessons

@Maryjoyce treating people equally doesn't mean treating people the same. My point was that I use my discretion based on the behavior of the child and what I know of them. The other thing to consider is I have responsibility for those children (as many as 35 at a time), and if they get hurt and/or go missing that is on me for that hour that I am responsible for them. That means I have to make a decision to trust them and let them go or take the other 34 with me to supervise the 1 going in and out of the loo. There are consequences to behaviors, and schools are set up so that for the normal healthy well functioning person they do not need to leave a classroom for the toilet as there are ample opportunities though the day. We also know that on occasion things go a bit wrong either due to illness or poor management of time, that's what staff discretion is for.

I wonder if all those parents who tell there children to just go and they will deal with the consequences would feel the same if their child slipped in the toilets and knocked themselves out banging their head on the sink, which happened when I was at school over twenty years ago, and nobody found said child for the remainder of the hour. Staff may notice they are missing but what are they expected to do with the other thirty four whilst they go and hunt down a child that has obsconded without permission?

You make some peculiar SPAG errors JustOneMoreStep

What do you teach?

At our school there is no blanket ban on using the toilet in lesson, but kids are advised to go at break/lunch/changeover (there are toilets on every corridor) and staff use their discretion. They know which kids will leave and just mess around on the corridor. Some children (who need to go straight away if needed) have a toilet pass. This system works perfectly fine, no complaints from parents or kids.

You make some peculiar SPAG errors JustOneMoreStep

She makes no more than anyone using predictive text on a phone. Far fewer I'd say

Manor for manner and there bloops are unusual on phones IME.

People trolling pretending to be teachers are however not unusual, to paraphrase Tom Jones.

Not sure you're in a position to be throwing stones there misty

@mistywintermorning I teach Performing Arts (music and drama) to 11-18 year olds. I also have a Doctorate, so I don't suppose my written and spoken English is too bad.

Oh ignore me, I misread that. I blame the wine

As you were

But you don't know there / their / they're ? OK then.

Well just think, there are far less qualified people teaching than me in the world. Happy to provide confirmation of qualifications to those who need to know/confirm my identity.

I'm wary of posting because of the whole pee troll issue. But...when I was at school in the 80s and 90s it was very rare for us to be allowed to leave the classroom to go to the toilet. Even at primary.

My phone constantly changes there to their and vice versa without me noticing. It really annoys me because I've never actually mixed them up, I know which one is which, but my phone thinks it knows better.