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AIBU?

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Original poster

To wonder why schools don't make an effort to stop the spread of germs

98 replies

TeenTitans · 28/04/2019 16:55

It's just accepted that kids spread germs to each other. Why? Why isn't anything done to reduce it? Hand sanitizer in classrooms the way they have it in hospital would be a good start. Ensure the kids gel their hands coming into classrooms. No outdoor coats indoors. Proper antiseptic hospital cleaning of the bathrooms at the end of the day.

It just seems bizarre that the attitude is that's just how it is when there are ways of addressing it. Immunocomprosinsed people exist and this is a real problem

OP posts:
bsc · 28/04/2019 17:08

Because they're places of EDUCATION, perhaps? Hmm

Teach your children good hygiene. That would help.

Smurf123 · 28/04/2019 17:09

I have a dettol aerosol I use round the room - door handle etc after the kids go home and sanitiser in my room.... But I bought them myself and we can't use the spray when kids are in incase of asthma and the kids can't use the sanitiser because we would need written permission from the parents so myself and classroom assistants use it.. Not much more we can do

FlyingElbows · 28/04/2019 17:10

Why not go the whole hog and opt for haz-mat suits and Jeyes fluid sprays?

Love51 · 28/04/2019 17:10

I've often thought this. My child started reception knowing to flush the toilet and wash his hands every time he used the toilet. After a couple of weeks at school he lost the habit and we had to reinforce it again. The school toilets were gross. The teacher is a good one, I don't know why she wasn't reinforcing it every day with all the children. (Apparently she wasn't, I did ask!)

Topseyt · 28/04/2019 17:10

You can't wrap them up in cotton wool and you should stop trying to do so.

The world is not a sterile place, so you have an immune system which you need to keep topped up.

Everywhere you go in life is covered in bacteria and germs and you cannot get away from that.

OrchidInTheSun · 28/04/2019 17:11

If schools didn't reward children for never being ill, I suspect sickness rates would drop considerably

Holidayshopping · 28/04/2019 17:11

Because we can’t afford books and pencils, let alone hand gel. Proper antiseptic hospital level cleaning is never going to happen either on the shitty wages we can afford to pay. We have Dave from the agency with a mop and bucket-if he turns up at all.

The best thing to stop germs spreading in school is to remove the attendance % schools are whipped with by the government, and let children stay at home when they are ill to recuperate properly and not spread their germs around!

Smurf123 · 28/04/2019 17:12

And more often than not when we send a child home after they have been sick or otherwise we either get told "oh yea they were sick this morning, thought they would be OK" or "yea they were up all night " or they arrive at school they next morning despite the previous reminder that they should be of for 48 hours after vomiting or diahorria... I've even had parents say "I would have kept them off as I thought they weren't well enough for school but they really wanted to come "...

ifpossible · 28/04/2019 17:13

I just wish the kids at our school when they come in from the playground they were made to wash their hands before having lunch. It’s common sense & little effort.

justarandomtricycle · 28/04/2019 17:13

Partly for the same reason the coastguard doesn't work to stop the spread of sea water.

kaytee87 · 28/04/2019 17:13

@Love51 apparently the teacher has other things to think about than making sure 30 kids have flushed the toilet and washed their hands.

kaytee87 · 28/04/2019 17:13

Apparently = presumably

Barbie222 · 28/04/2019 17:14

Please no blanket rule of hand sanitizer it's really drying for children with eczema who will be just as clean washing with their hand creams.

I'm not sure you've thought this one through op.

SparklesandFlowers · 28/04/2019 17:16

Seriously, Love51, do you know what a reception teacher does all day?

You can remind the kids to wash their hands each day and make sure hands are washed before giving out fruit but you can't police the toilets and make sure every child washes their hands every time. You're much too busy teaching, making observations and recording them, sorting out two kids fighting over a toy car, helping Lucy into the dinosaur dressing up outfit, comforting Imran after he falls off the tyres...

Whizzler · 28/04/2019 17:17

The best thing to stop germs spreading in school is to remove the attendance % schools are whipped with by the government, and let children stay at home when they are ill to recuperate properly

Eminently more sensible!

VladmirsPoutine · 28/04/2019 17:19

Have you ever spent any time around a group of young kids? Clearly not. They are filthy wilderbeasts. Let them be FFS! How often in life will it be perfectly acceptable to be a brooding petri dish of germs than when in nursery/primary school.

Topseyt · 28/04/2019 17:19

Actually, the best way to stop the spread of germs in schools would be to stop any children going to school at all. Ever. Ban schools completely, then they will not be there to perform this task.

Oh, I forgot. Kids will just pick up germs from elsewhere anyway. What a bummer!!

DonkeyHohtay · 28/04/2019 17:20

Children are going to pick up germs. It's unavoidable.

Hand sanitiser is not as effective as soap and water. Anti-bac on everything in sight is not healthy and is helping bugs become antibiotic resistant.

Only your typical MN germ-phobe would suggest this silly idea.

Original poster
TeenTitans · 28/04/2019 17:20

Are you the parent of an immuno-compromised child?

Yes and I have a rubbish immune system myself. I'd love it if everyone stayed home when sick but that's fighting a losing battle.

OP posts:
Glitterblue · 28/04/2019 17:20

I don't think enough people wash their hands after going to the toilet, or after being out in the supermarket, school, handling money etc - if you think about the number of hands that will touch supermarket trollies, touch screens on self checkouts, cash machines, buses, things in school, then people go home and don't wash their hands when they do in. We all do and very rarely catch anything, my daughter has only ever had one sickness bug. We also don't wear our shoes in the house, which I know is one of "those" subjects on mumsnet but after seeing a kid come out of school and projectile vomit on the playground then seeing kids walking over where it had been washed away from, I'm even more sure we are doing the right thing! That kid was also back in school the next day and it was when more than half the school was off with the sickness bug back in October. If parents would just keep kids off with things like that but they don't. My DD's school had started sending them away again if they know the child has been sick.

So in answer to the OP, I don't think there is any need for the measures suggested but I do think if there was more basic hygiene around it would help. I have one friend who never ever gets her kids to wash their hands after school or before eating and they wear their shoes in the house, and the entire family has had the sickness bug 4 times since October.

Original poster
TeenTitans · 28/04/2019 17:21

The best thing to stop germs spreading in school is to remove the attendance % schools are whipped with by the government, and let children stay at home when they are ill to recuperate properly

I agree with this completely too.

OP posts:
Whizzler · 28/04/2019 17:22

Please don't start a shoes on/shoes off debate. Please.

Guylian2019 · 28/04/2019 17:23

If Ofsted didn't destroy schools for low attendance, that would help. Parents could then keep children off when they're ill. Mind you you'd still get some parents sending ill kids in if they have to go to work. In January we had a sickness bug that went around. Several parents knew their child had been sick in the night and brought them in anyway. Of course it spread like wildfire.

Difficult for schools to have general use sanitiser when you'd have to consider eczema, allergies, skin issues, parental permission. I used to work in a school that had hand sanitiser in every classroom. It was well used but attendance was national average so it can't make too much difference long term.

I'm not sure what else can become school responsibility.

Graphista · 28/04/2019 17:25

I've DX contamination ocd (are you sure you don't?) and even I think you're ridiculous!

Kids need exposure to germs to build natural immunity plus it would be expensive and incredibly time consuming and difficult to implement.

"A big help would be parents not sending in children who are obviously unwell" to be fair this is mainly down to schools putting pressure on because they're under pressure from ofsted/govt on attendance rates - several threads on this very issue with some schools insisting on extremely ill even disabled children experiencing an issue relating to that disability being sent in! (Something I've experienced myself)

Whizzler · 28/04/2019 17:25

But I agree that so many people don't wash their hands after going to the toilet. My desk used to be near one of the toilets in work (joy!) and the time lapse between people flushing the toilet and opening the door was often mere seconds. No sound of a tap running, no hand dryer whooshing.