UnisexToilets in school

[Crumpets111]

NC for obvious reasons but here I go,
DS Primary School sent letters out today outlining the new plans regarding the full return to school in September. Within this is stated the toilets will all be changing to Unisex when they go back, and the guidance given by the Government states no extra cleaning is needed at all.

AIBU here to feel upset by this? No explanations were given, nor were we involved with any consultations regarding this. My DS is not comfortable with this, he is about to go into Y5, and other Parents have expressed their concerns across SM to which the Head Mistress deleted the comments!

Sounds outrageous .
My daughter is going into year 6 in September ( 10yrs old)
No way is this acceptable .
My daughters friend in the same year has already started her period and I think my daughter isn’t far off to be honest .
The school already has a little box with knickers, sanitary towels, wipes in for when a girl starts her period .
There would be absolute uproar if boys and girls had to share toilets in year 5/6.
It just wouldn’t happen .

@avamiah that's exactly what I was thinking and discussed amongst our family. When pressed on the issue the HD said no boys will be allowed in the toilets at the same time as the girls, so what exactly was the point in changing them then? I contacted the school several times over the past few weeks over the plans for going back as I am shielding, and not once did they get back to me.
Will see in the morning what happens as I know I am not the only parent concerned over this.

I believe that this may be illegal. Schools etc must uphold sing,e sex spaces. I will see if I can find the relevant guideline.

Crumpets111,
Yes I’ll be honest with you, I can’t see it happening
In fact I agree with TBHno, it may be illegal.

Its allowed as long as the cubicles are self contained... so have a loo and sink.

Shared sinks, not ok. This is definitely one Id kick off about!

[quote Crumpets111]@avamiah that's exactly what I was thinking and discussed amongst our family. When pressed on the issue the HD said no boys will be allowed in the toilets at the same time as the girls, so what exactly was the point in changing them then? I contacted the school several times over the past few weeks over the plans for going back as I am shielding, and not once did they get back to me.
Will see in the morning what happens as I know I am not the only parent concerned over this.[/quote]
Are the boys and girls toilets a walk from each other? I wonder if it's a badly thought out attempt to minimise movement around the buildings.

At DS's schools the toilets are going to be the only the time the children are out of a bubble area because of the layout. They're thinking they may need to send children via the office so that they can be asked to wait if a child from another bubble is in, but obviously kids can't always wait (hence why the Head said the set toilet times some schools are implementing can't work)

Well there is no way that my daughter ( 10 years ) old would go into the same toilets that boys use.
Is she supposed to go into the toilet cubicle and put a sanitary pad on when there is a boy from her class in the next cubicle ??
So she goes in there with a little bag and then the boy asks her “what’s in there , in her bag ?
Omg .
That’s not going to happen ?

Our toilets are going to be unisex from September due to Covid. The current set up is two self contained cubicles shared by two classes, one for boys and one for girls. They have now been zoned off and one allocated to each class. Only one child is allowed in at a time which is easy to police as it’s only one form entry. I would not be comfortable it if was multiple cubicles in one space though for the reasons outlined by PPs above.
Do you know what the physical layout of the toilets is?

If they can assign a toilet to a bubble or two then it would mitigate against cross-contamination. If they aren't letting girls and boys in together then I don't think there are many privacy concerns (hidden camera's excepted - probably more of a secondary school concern than primary). I would be wondering if there would be enough time for everyone to use the loos, though.

I’m a teacher and a parent of girls- I would be outraged in both capacities.

They need to label the cubicles for each bubble- eg boys toilets: one cubicle for bubble a another for bubble b. Girls toilets: one cubicle for bubble a another for bubble b.

They are unisex at our new build primary.
TBH it never crossed my mind until now and I don't think it's ideal really especially for girls just starting their period
Set up is each and every classroom (and it has lots ...4 form entry) has its own self contained cloakroom with 2 cubicles and sinks within the cloakroom which means that there is no sharing of toilets across classes ever so at least it's prepared for the new covid rules
So I'm assuming this is the future for toilets in schools however I wouldn't be keen for the normal toilet setup in schools to become unisex !

As others have said, the Equality Act recognises sex a protected characteristic and therefore they need to uphold single sex spaces. I'd start a petition with as many parents signing if I were you. Totally unnaceptable. Sounds like they've been pushed into this by Stonewall or GI.

My initial thought was that it was outrageous but reading the other replies, if it's to reduce movement around school and to stop children from different classes using the same toilet in an attempt to follow the covid guidelines then it makes absolute sense IF there is enough supervision to ensure that only one child at a time uses the toilet.

At my school, Key Stage 2 classes don't have one TA per class. Usually they would work across the year group, going into different rooms to support children during lessons. At the moment they're not able to do this so work outside the classrooms, doing admin and supervising hand-washing and the toilets.

In those circumstances, unisex toilets wouldn't be a safeguarding concern.

They have these at my DD’s school. They’re all self contained like disabled loos, with a toilet and a sink in them, like your loo at home. There is absolutely no need for this hysteria.

If the set up is as you have SarahBellam then I agree but the OP has not said this. If the toilets are old style ie many toilets without a sink then there is cause for complaint (not sure there is any ‘hysteria’ here).

They’re all self contained like disabled loos, with a toilet and a sink in them, like your loo at home.

I think it is far more likely that the school are re-purposing the current loos. There is nothing in the Op to say they are all self contained and it is very unlikely that they will be refurbished to comply with the current laws.

It is quite rare for the loos to be like the disabled toilets described above and very costly to make The required alterations. You also need to sacrifice a fair number of the toilets to cope with the increased space.

It is not hysterical to expect schools to provide the legal minimum privacy for young girls.

@SarahBellam

They have these at my DD’s school. They’re all self contained like disabled loos, with a toilet and a sink in them, like your loo at home. There is absolutely no need for this hysteria.

It's highly unlikely that they are. The OP would have mentioned that. I've worked in numerous schools over the years and only 1 has the set up you described. Sadly it's not remotely common.

It's far more likely they are just re-badging the boys and girls toilets, which has issues unless it's done very carefully

Unacceptable! I would be surprised if it reduces movement. And it certainly increases throughput in the toilets. So, if it’s the boys turn, do you tell a girl she can’t go?

In life generally, ladies and gents loos are usually adjacent to each other because of the plumbing.

And how/why have they decided there is no extra cleaning required?

This is about coronavirus and trying to stop bubbles from cross infecting each other. Shame they didn't give you this explanation as it seems like many have assumed there is another reason.

If like my school, the children will be escorted to the toilets at all times, so it will be easy to monitor use (we're not going unisex as there still wouldn't be enough toilets for each bubble)

It's not a perfect solution, but the school are trying to avoid further closures.

This is illegal. Ask them to share the risk assessment and equality impact assessment with all parents.

Here's some information to help challenge the decision.

safeschoolsallianceuk.net/?smd_process_download=1&download_id=2056

assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/410294/Advice_on_standards_for_school_premises.pdf

It's just not acceptable. Headmistress has clearly forgotten what it was like to be a young girl starting to menstruate. It's hard enough as it is with judgement from the other girls who haven't started their periods yet, without adding young boys to the mix who seem to think humiliating their peers is funny.

Girls will just stop going to the toilets, and this will have a direct negative impact on their physical health, their mental health and their academic achievement.

No girl will hit her full potential if she dehydrates herself to avoid going to the toilet, or tries to concentrate with a full bladder. No girl's health will improve from spending all day in a soaking pad or using a tampon all day. We're looking at bladder infections, chafed skin, TSS. We're looking at girls not feeling comfortable in their own bodies, feeling sad at school, feeling too embarrassed to speak up and learning that their opinions don't count... Just, no. No! This is not the life we want for our girls.

Every girl deserves a shot at a good education in a safe space, free of bullying and where she can be the best that she can be.

Unisex toilets, whilst on the face of it, a small thing, have such a huge impact.

Children aren't wearing face masks anyway. If one child gets Covid-19, you know the whole school will. Taking away single sex toilets isn't going to help fight Covid-19, it's just going to ruin girls' lives.

As others have said, if they are self contained with toilet and sink, then they are meeting regulations. If they are not, i agree that this may be illegal. If you do not get a satisfactory response from the school, may i suggest contacting your local authority and the governors of the school.

I think @theendoftheworldasweknowit sums this up perfectly. I also consider that those replying understand perectly the Covid aspects of what the school is doing. But you still have to draw the line.

As an adult, l don’t have a problem with unisex loos, providing there’s no man wee on the floor! Many of the branches of Zizzi restaurants offer unisex loos. It also cuts down on queues.

But we are talking children here. Bodies of young girls are evolving and they have more than enough to contend with.

The school is also seemingly adding more stringent toilet rules than employed by a local pub.

It’s not just girls with periods that won’t use the toilets. Girls would be very self conscious for a boy in the next cubicle to hear them wee/poo, and could set up more opportunities for teasing and bullying. We need to give girls privacy and dignity.