No soap in toilets at school - would it bother you?

[Avalon]

Dd2 tells me that there is never any soap in the girls' toilets at school. Very often there is no towel either.
I told her teacher on Monday (parents' evening) who told the caretaker. I went in on Tuesday morning, yesterday morning and today. The caretaker has been told more than once. The secretary can't remember when she last ordered soap.
According to the caretaker the kids just mess about with it and tread it into the floor etc.
I am fuming. Am I being OTT here? Is this normal in most schools?

Not OTT at all. No soap in any toilet is disgusting, but one at school? Vile.

Needs to be there, needs to be used sensibly, but that can surely be done with a lesson on hygiene?

God, the thought of all those poo and wee germs all over pencils and schoolbooks - gross!

He needs to come up with a solution really doesn't he not just decide not to provide it. I know the press soap dispensers get abused and the tablet soaps get dirty and cracked but I thought it had to be provided. I work in a pre-school and the under 5's can make a mess if not supervised but we still have to provide it.

Message withdrawn

I live in Scotland and last year was working in a school that was being inspected. We would have been pulled up short if we had not had soap in the toilets (antibacterial soap at that, which I object to, but that's another story!)

You can really freak the teacher out, I'm sure. Talk of worms, germs all over books, kids who aren't that ace at wiping their bottoms eating their sandwiches at lunchtime, kids with tummy bugs, actually, I'll stop now, I'm making myself queasy.

I'm a washer though - you'll have walkers along soon saying that there's no point washing your hands as there are more germs on the door handle to the loos (put there by THEM, the dirty buggers!).

Thank God for your reaction. I was beginning to feel slightly weird for wanting soap, lol.

it is disgusting! the kids must easily pass tummy bugs and worms around.

I agree this is bad !!! some stiff letters of complaint are in order IMO.

I spoke to a parent governor this morning to complain.

She's rung back to tell me that there is now soap in the toilets. The school secretary is checking out what the drying facilities are and the pg will be raising the whole issue at the next governors' meeting (next week).

So I'm now.

yuck yuck yuck
I'm glad there's sorting it out - well done! How gross though.

I don't think you are over reacting I think it is disgraceful and a health hazard.

And yes, the caretaker is correct in that they kids will mess with it and tread it into the floor.

That doesn't mean they should't be given any though.

They keep large bins of sawdust in the toilets as DS's school just for wee and soap spillages.

Our school never had locks on the toilet door - reason given was that they had some once and they got taken off by the students.

Not a good enough reason IMO.

This is really unacceptable, glad something is being done

Not sure, but I think this is against Health and Safety regs anyway. I remember seeing a program on the tv where a restaurant was hauled over the coals because there was no soap in the staff loos.
I agree, Id go mad. one of my oft repeated phrases at home is "WITH SOAP!" called after my children as they disappear off to wash their hands after Ive reminded them.

YES! Soap and warm water is the best way to kill viruses and bacteria, critical in a place like a school where these things run rampant. And during cold/flu season no less!

Yes! Am looking at schools at the moment to choose one for DD1 and checking the loos for soap is high on my list after same issue with nursery.

Our local secondary school went through a phase of not providing toilet paper because the pupils kept blocking the toilets with it. Everyone was expected to provide their own.

yes it would bother me.... thats shocking

You'd be amazed what kids do in school bogs.
Soap gets chucked everywhere. And stolen.
They wet the bog roll then roll it into balls and lob it at the ceiling.
They yank urinals off the walls and flood the place.
They scratch mirrors with graffiti.
They even poo and wee on the floor instead of in bogs.
And they eat and drink in there.
Gross.

I teach secondary by the way!
And mine is a nice school.

Do the loos not get patrolled any more? At our school, the loos were patrolled and you could be pretty sure that at least once in a break, a teacher would come and inspect what was going on. Hence everyone giving up smoking in winter.

Yes but the little scrotes are sneaky beggers.
And they are all scared of grassing each other up.
So "no-one ever sees anything"

This would be against Health and Safety rules if it were a toilet for employees in a workplace as they must provide both warm & cold water, soap and towels or another means of drying hands. Unfortunately because it is a pupil's toilet in a school, the Health and Safety at Work Act and the various Health and Safety Regulations don't apply and as far as I know there aren't any other specific laws that do.
Sadly, I think that this situation probably is a fairly common situation in schools. I certainly know that my eldest dd (now 18 and just left school) didn't use the toilets at her Secondary School in Edinburgh once in the 5 years she was there because (in her words ) they were so 'mingin'

There were several cases of Hepatitis in my d's school last year - followed by a sudden improvement in toilet conditions ...