To think school should do better about this

[NettleS0]

My DD is in primary school and has been telling me that the toilets are always flooded, over flowing, always wee on the floors and no soap in the dispensers so they can't wash their hands properly. No wonder bugs are going round. Aibu to think the school should be checking them more often if they get left like this?

Yes that's unacceptable and unhygienic. Kids should be able to access clean toilets where they don't get covered in wee and are able to wash their hands properly. Surely there's a caretaker.

OP welcome to primary school life. There is always a spate of kids who think it’s funny to out too much loo paper down the toilet. No soap can be kids using too much etc. Yeah it needs to be addressed but doesn’t necessarily mean the school is crap (no pun intended). .

You are not being unreasonable expecting better from a state education system.

You are unreasonable for expecting that the pittance per child schools are funded with, and the level of staffing to support the demands of current additional needs, can stretch to full time janitor (as we had in my small primary school in the 80s).

What fund should be taken from to cover this service? What staff should be responsible for the toilets?

Surely there's a caretaker? Entirely likely not. If anyone is mopping the floor it could well be office staff, TAs or teachers.

Sadly secondary schools seem no better.

Perhaps parents could take some any responsibility for teaching children to use the toilet carefully and hygienically?

As a primary TA, I am quite used to cleaning the floor in the toilets and changing the loo paper/hand towel I'm happy to do so because we don't have a full-time caretaker on site and no-one wants filthy conditions to persist. However...

If we find out the culprits for transgressions like these and report the misbehaviour to the parents, there are always, but ALWAYS excuses proffered and a complete unwillingness to rebuke their own children.

We can't do right for doing wrong anymore, it seems...

In my daughters case definitely no better

Yes this happens....however you then have parents complain that their children aren't allowed to go to the toilet.

I never understand why males seem to be unable to use a lavatory accurately.my DH, son and gcs all seem to manage it from an early age. I assume that those that make this sort of mess in public and school toilets do the same at home and someone cleans up after them?Mind you I’m not impressed by the way women’s’ public toilets are treated.

Schools are struggling and repairs cost money. Of course it shouldn’t be like this in schools, but it’s not up to the teaching staff to fix it.

Parents could get together to raise money and donate things like soap and toilet paper.

I wouldn’t be so sure there is a caretaker; schools are hugely underfunded and staff poor, this will also extend to cleaners (probably on-site once a day only with a lot to do in limited time ) and the availibility of teaching and other staff to check on things like this, plus the safeguarding aspect.

Are the children reporting the floods, lack of soap, etc.?

Our caretaker works early morning until just after school opens and then at school closing until 7pm. Cleaner (yes we can only afford one) does early morning before children arrive. The toilets are spotless and fully stocked with soap etc. when I arrive in the morning. By breaktime today I’d been called to unblock two toilets (one I could deal with the other I simply had to lock and mark out of order). I was called to one set of toilets where the soap dispenser had been emptied and soap smeared all over the mirror, and cubicle doors. I’ve had to clean cubicle walls where faeces has been smeared. Children seem to enjoy pulling as much toilet paper from the dispensers as possible.
Personally I consider the parents to be at fault in a lot of this. Children aren’t taught proper toilet behaviour at home and when we do tell a parent that their child was caught emptying the soap dispensers we get “oh it’s just playing”.

I’m supposed to an administrator and attendance officer but I’m dealing with blocked toilets and dirty walls - then I return to the office to find parents complaining that the office isn’t manned! Then said parent hands me forgotten items that they expect to be delivered instantly to their children - meaning I leave the office unmanned again! Honestly schools genuinely can’t win.

Work in a school.
This is what the kids do in the day.
School finances are so dire that there aren't on site staff all day. So if one kid empties all the soap then it stays empty until 3pm when the cleaning staff start to arrive.
Often it can be the child telling people it's a mess who are the ones making the mess.

Don't fool yourself this just the boys toilets.

My DP works as a caretaker in a primary school. The kids kick doors, break locks, throw toilet paper around, break soap dispensers, block toilets etc. As has been said there is very little punishment for this and although caretakers would be expected to do this they also have to do the gates, lunch set up/down,fire alarm checks, general fixes etc and there is only so much time in one day.

My experience of several schools is that cleaners come in and clean at the end of the school day. The toilets will be clean when children arrive first thing in the morning. If they then mess them up, too bad. The cleaners can’t follow them around all day.

Also there is usually specific cleaning staff, I wouldn’t expect a caretaker to clean toilets. Their role is more maintenance, repairs, groundswork.

I find in my school, there is a significant cohort who deliberately destroy the toilets as a fun game. This happens from reception onwards.

I have had individual children deliberately cover them in wee and poo 3+ times in a day, every day. We don't have day time maintenance or cleaning staff, so if there's noone available, they can't be cleaned. When I was based in one class, I could clean them myself (albeit that meant students didn't get allocated support in lessons, as I was scrubbing shit instead). Staffing has been cut since then though; now I cannot leave my roles to clean, for safety reasons.

As the same kids are still deliberately destroying the same toilets (because parents excuse; it's probably all my fault; they can't help but rub poo on the walls and we're being unfair...), they are now frequently disgusting and unusable. We need more staff of all sorts and better student behaviour to have sanitary toilets and we can't fix that as it stands....

Of course the toilets should be clean and fit for use but respectfully you have no clue what it's actually like working in a school. It is constant fire fighting and always trying to juggle things with never enough staff it seems.
Schools are chronically underfunded and our caretaker works similar as others have said, early morning and later in the evening. Our cleaning is outsourced and they come in after school. We have no access to their supplies. What more can we do?

School administrator here at a primary. Caretakers and cleaners come first thing in the morning and after hometime and clean/restock etc. That's all that's funded for. Staff will bob in and out during the day to check on bathrooms but OBVIOUSLY cannot be manned all day long as 'bathroom attendant' is not an actual job in schools and everyone else is busy teaching/supporting learning etc during the day. A staff member can go in at morning break and all is well and the very next child to go in could be throwing toilet roll around or flushing paper towels down the toilet for a laugh and making it flood everywhere 🙄 it happens more regularly than it should and we do monitor and reinforce but sadly it stills happens.

Often a child won't tell us if they go in and it's a mess, so we won't know until later. I always encourage children to come and tell us in the office (or another adult) if it's a mess. I've had to don the rubber gloves many times to clean up and that includes foregoing my lunch break to scrub pee from the floor and sh*t off walls, which we do because we are all there for the children when it boils down to it. But that is certainly a thankless and unappreciated task, just like so many other things that we do for the kids. Since we never get thanks/appreciation from parents for all the above and beyond things we do but get PLENTY of comments when a parent has something to moan about.

On reading alot of these comments - it's easy to see who of us actually works on a school 😅 and we are going through the same 'sh*t' so to speak, so it's nice to have some solidarity there 💪 please who don't have school experience have their heads in the clouds and that must be bloody lovely! Although completely deluded for sure 😬

In our school, the issues are caused by kids deliberately putting pencils etc down the drains. Wadding up paper etc. Teach your kids to behave better and it is less likely to be an issue. Every time a drainage firm gets called out to sort it there is a cost. Obviously mopping the floor, soap etc should be provided. Not sure many schools have caretakers now?

I think we are the same person! Add to that the endless deliveries, official visitors, children and teachers needing things and actual jobs like registers and dinner numbers making sure their children are safe and fed - I guess none of that matters as long as little bobby has his favourite blanket (rag) delivered down to his class within 3 seconds because he cant possibly exist without it and we are obviously the P.A to every child and entitled parent in the school 😬 absolutely infuriating. And no, I wouldn't like to find another job despite these minor issues because I do in general enjoy it, but I don't enjoy being talked to like a servant or piece of crap by thankfully a minority, as most are lovely and it's a fulfilling job being able to assist the education and growth of the kids. 😊

Huge compliment to the LA if a complaint to the school doesn't do anything.

And this is why in secondary kids are not allowed to the toilets in unsupervised time. I do wish some of the complainers like that bloody 'human rights for kids' woman on TikTok would spend a week cleaning said toilets. Add blood on walls and tampons to the shit and piss too.