Cleaning in schools

[BirdieFriendReturns]

With the government cleaning guidelines, I’m guessing that schools haven’t recruited cleaners to be on hand during school hours for the pretty much constant sanitising off surfaces, desks, lavatories etc that is required?

Will this extra task fall to teaching staff from tomorrow?

So teachers are meant to educate and be professional cleaners?

Most state schools outsource their cleaning. There will be a premises manager but with the best will in the world they will not be able to clean the whole school during the day.

I guess the school staff will just have to do a bit of cleaning as they go along.

We have been given instructions about the cleaning, every staff member will be cleaning toilets and equipment during the school day.

The cleaning we will be doing is wiping tables and chairs, door handles, taps and toilet flushes. So basically the surfaces our bubble will touch. We are not doing a full on room clean, this will be done by the cleaning staff at the end of each day. I don’t feel this is too much to ask of us and feel it would put someone else at a higher risk if they were moving around the whole school doing this for every bubble. There are 2 adults in our bubbles so one will supervise children outside while the other does the spray and wipe (to be done 3 times a day).

I am responsible for cleaning my own desk and work area each day (school office), the cleaners hoover and empty the bins each morning before I arrive. I also have to clean door handles in the office reception and staff toilets each time they are used.

As far as the classrooms and toilets are concerned, the cleaners do their usual cleaning every morning, class staff Are responsible for through the day cleaning and sanitising of the classrooms and children’s toilets.

We’ve been doing this since March and no one has complained yet.

We are responsible for cleaning chairs, tables, taps and equipment for our bubble at least 3 times a day. We are lucky that a cleaner is working 11-1 to do an extra clean of toilets and other areas then cleaners before and after school doing a deep clean. Also have got plenty of anti back and Dettol wipes provided by the school so that’s good. It’s the best they can do really.

No, you’re not being asked to be a professional cleaner. You’re being asked to do your bit and clean surfaces during the day to reduce the risk of infection, alongside everyone else. It’s just how it is at the moment and the same thing will be happening in every school.

We have employed a cleaner to work through the day for when we go back. In September we will need 2 as we have 2 sites, which is really common in some parts of London. This crisis has been hugely expensive for our school and, I’m sure, many others.

Even if cleaners were available throughout the day to clean, they would have to enter all the bubbles whilst children/teachers were in there. That would risk the virus spreading. The only option for continuous cleaning throughout the day is if teachers/ta's do it.

Existing cleaners brought in for additional hours.

They clean all communal areas (including toilets) while bubbles are in the classrooms, and surface clean each room during the staggered lunch break.

They clean classrooms at the end of the day (staggered)

The 'returned' part of the school is shut one day a week for an even fuller clean of all the rooms being used, except for 1 room (not used for the other 4 days) which is for Y6 keyworkers.

The cleaners have PPE.

We only clean any equipment that is used by our bubble and both needs to be re-used before the cleaners next clean AND can't be 'quarantined' (procedure and place for things that have been used, e.g. books that have been read, to be left until viral contamination very likely to have been reduced to a tiny level)