Mixed sex toilets in Wales’ schools: breaking the law - Merched Cymru

[IwantToRetire]

New and refurbished school buildings across Wales are imposing mixed sex toilet facilities on children. These toilets are not compliant with the law, and present considerable problems, particularly for girls.

Merched Cymru’s research shows that 15% of Welsh secondary schools surveyed have only mixed sex toilet provision, with many more having some or most of their provision in mixed sex blocks with shared handwashing facilities, which are not compliant with the regulations.

Mixed sex facilities are being installed as default in government-funded school building projects, without an evidence base for any benefits. Consultation on this issue has been missing or compromised, and concerns ignored.

Merched Cymru and others have been raising this issue for several years.

More info about this research https://merchedcymru.wales/2024/01/24/mixed-sex-toilets-in-wales-schools-breaking-the-law/

Who is accountable for this?

Thank you Merched Cymru. Sadly Wales is on par with Scotland for misogyny

This is a really important discussion we all ought to be having. I don't understand how Councils across the land are getting away with completing ignoring the law - and with no public pressure, persuasive arguments or evidence/research to drive this policy change. When did we start allowing public bodies to just got totally rogue and ignore basic safeguarding?

Great article here:
https://nation.cymru/news/schools-breaking-law-by-not-providing-single-sex-toilets-for-pupils/

Reveals this with the Welsh government passing the buck:
A Welsh Government spokeswoman said: “The provision and design of toilets, changing rooms and washing facilities for pupils is a matter for the school and local authority. The Education (School Premises) Regulations 1999 specify separate washrooms for male and female pupils aged eight and above. In addition, the Welsh Government provides advice for governing bodies and head teachers on the facilities required.
“Grants awarded are subject to compliance with all relevant laws and regulations as stipulated in the terms and conditions of such grants. It is the local authority’s responsibility to ensure that all applicable regulations to schools are adhered to.”

So my question is where are the schools breaking the law? We know locals/parents kicking up a fuss often gets unisex toilets altered. We need to name and shame the schools concerned.

It's baffling isn't it, that Councils can get away with just ignoring the law. I looked up the school building programme. Info from the Welsh Government website here. Sustainable Communities for Learning rolling programme [HTML] | GOV.WALES

"The first wave of investment (Band A) of the Programme was under the banner of ‘21st Century Schools and Education’ and represented a £1.6 billion investment over the five-year period ending 2018 to 2019. This supported the rebuild and refurbishment of more than 170 schools. The second tranche of investment (Band B) began in April 2019. It was expanded to include further education colleges and renamed the ‘21st Century Schools and Colleges Programme’. In January 2022 the Programme was renamed ‘Sustainable Communities for Learning (SCfL)’ to make a clear statement about our commitment towards the environment, community cohesion, and our future generations. This Programme will see a further £2.3 billion investment in school and college infrastructure utilising both public capital and revenue."

Obviously I'm in favour of the Welsh government investing in new and refurbished school buildings! I do think it's a massive failure of scrutiny if this much money has been spent on facilities that don't meet very clear regulations.

There are layers and layers of planning processes and regulations around new buildings, but someone can just say somewhere that this is 'the up to date way of doing it' and 'it's inclusive', and suddenly all procedure and common sense evaporate.

As a minimum, there needs to be a very clear directive to local authorities that funding will be withdrawn if they fail to comply with ALL the regulations. And they can't just ignore some of them because they're not trendy.

If my local school had these awful bogs I'd be up the school with this report right away asking what they were going to do about it. Thankfully we don't - they're perfectly sensible traditional boys and girls toilets (with urinals), but with a slightly more open plan layout (so, no door off the corridor, and you can see into the handwashing area). And some additional gender neutral fully enclosed loos. Fine.

Also in Wales Online. https://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/education/drug-dealing-drinking-dirt-problems-28517175

There was an article about this in our local rag last week.

@WickedSerious About horrible loos? Or mixed sex ones? Do you have a link? Are you in Wales as well?

Yes,I'm in Wales.

The toilets had been vandalised and closed for over a month,it was in The Pembrokeshire Herald.

Found it. School locks pupils out of toilets over concerns about vandalism – The Pembrokeshire Herald (pembrokeshire-herald.com) Thanks @WickedSerious

Sounds AWFUL. The second photo shows a barrier over the kind of toilets that are described in the Merched Cymru report - mixed sex fully enclosed cubicles with shared handwashing. It doesn't seem at all surprising to me that this would be a worse scenario for vandalism - because the cubicles are fully enclosed kids can smash stuff up/make a horrific stinking mess (faeces on the walls FFS!) much more easily than in conventional cubicles where others would be able to hear (and smell!) what was going on. They could slink out and by the time anyone spotted the mess they'd be well away, (instead of coming out to be faced with a row of horrified faces.)

It says at the end, “The School has this week opened an additional block of toilets and will continue to review the situation regularly.” The first photo shows conventional boys' toilets with urinals and cubicles with a gap top and bottom (hurray for ventilation and sound travelling!) I hope these are the new, additional ones.

The denials match what it says in the Merched Cymru report too - constant pretence that there are no problems, and complaints not recorded.

"One parent alleges that after sending daily emails to Haverfordwest High VC School for a week without response, a recent phone call was initially met with denial, only to be acknowledged when evidence was mentioned."

It's disgusting,I'm glad my two left school a long time ago.

It's Wales, there is no opposition to Lab/PC so there is no accountability. Wales like Scotland lags behind England in health education and social care but gets more per head of population. On this topic the Senedd simply passes the buck to local authorities. In Wales no one is ever held to account.

They'd vote for a traffic cone if it was wearing a red rosette.

@mumsnet why was my post deleted? I can provide photos and school address if necessary.
These new toilets are a disgrace and I have spoken to many pupils and parents who dislike them immensely. I would like to know what exactly was offensive or are you policing views now?

What do we expect when Eluned Morgan thinks men can be women. The Welsh Government have been infiltrated by trans activists.

The toilets got changed during the holidays and the kids hate them. They are now policed by teachers and only certain toilets open.

So there is less toilet access for all with the health and education issues that will have. I bet there's greater absences for girls during their periods too with no single sex toilets - denying girls access to education which is a human right. Parents need to take group legal action. These toilets are illegal and harming children