EDUCATIONAL & STUDENT FACILITIES
THE SCHOOL WASHROOM CONUNDRUM
Poor toilets at school can have a major effect on pupils’ performance and wellbeing. Liam Mynes from Tork manufacturer Essity, looks at ways of improving the school washroom.
Good school toilets are important. They can have a positive influence on pupils’ ability to learn as well as their behaviour, morale and attendance levels. But when students are unhappy with the toilets at school, they are likely to avoid using them. This can lead to a range of problems, according to the Children’s Bowel and Bladder Charity ERIC.
According to the charity it is not uncommon for students to limit the amount they eat and drink during the school day to avoid having to use loos that are dirty, smelly, lack soap and toilet paper or are not sufficiently private. What’s more, drinking insufficient quantities of water during the day can lead to dehydration, a lack of concentration and bladder and bowel problems.
A number of recent efforts to replace boys’ and girls’ washrooms with gender-neutral facilities appear to have added further stress for some students.
Scotland’s Culloden Academy switched to unisex toilets in 2021, but female pupils as young as 11 were unhappy about having to share facilities with 18-year-old boys. The school has now reverted to separate toilets.
An English primary school also made a U-turn last year after briefly making its washrooms gender-neutral. Moredon Primary School in Swindon failed to modify its toilets in any way, which meant boys were still using the urinals even though girls were now sharing the facilities. The school abandoned the experiment after receiving complaints from both parents and pupils.
No child should be made to feel awkward, embarrassed, distressed or unsafe during an everyday visit to the toilet. Schools should therefore do their utmost to turn these facilities into pleasant and accessible places.
Washrooms at school should be clean and well-lit with no hidden corners or alcoves where children might be bullied. Some institutions have already changed the design of their washrooms to make them more child-friendly with a modern décor and open-plan handwashing areas where staff can see inside if required.
Issues such as messy surfaces, vandalised units and empty soap and paper dispensers will prevent the toilets from functioning properly while also giving them an air of neglect. These issues can be addressed with the aid of appropriate washroom systems.
Conventional toilet rolls are often installed because they are a low-cost option. But these may be thrown around by
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unruly pupils or left on the floor where they will become wet, soiled and unusable. And this will lead to the supply running out too quickly and the washrooms becoming even more messy.
Lockable toilet tissue dispensers with a sturdy design will help to deter vandals while also helping to control consumption and prevent run-outs.
The Tork SmartOne toilet tissue system works well in schools since the dispenser is designed to give out only one sheet at a time, reducing consumption and helping to cut costs. The dispenser is also tightly sealed to protect the paper from contamination and prevent product spoilage while also improving hygiene, since each student only touches the paper they use.
The dispenser contains no flat surfaces or crevices where drug paraphernalia may be left or stored. This helps to discourage drug-taking in the washrooms – something that could become a cause of fear and intimidation in some secondary schools.
The ideal soap system in a school should be mild, hygienic and easy to use while ensuring a long-lasting supply. Tork Extra Mild Foam Soap is a good option because it is safe for children, quick to lather and comes in a dispenser that has been purpose-designed to be easy to use by people with low hand strength. Each cartridge contains 2,500 shots of soap compared with around 1,000 in most liquid soap systems, which means the supply will last two and a half times as long.
C-fold hand towels are often supplied in schools – again for cost reasons - but these can lead to excessive consumption, unnecessary waste and messy units. This is particularly the case where loose towels are stacked on the units to avoid the expense of installing a dispenser. Any pupil picking up a hand towel will inevitably drip water on to other towels and make them unusable.
Even when a C-fold dispenser is installed it is all too easy to take out clumps of towels at a time. The unused towels will then be discarded on washroom units or dropped on the floor where they will become damp and soiled.
A good alternative is a high-capacity system that protects the towels before use and helps to control consumption. For example, the Tork Matic Hand Towel Roll dispenser holds sufficient towels for up to 1,400 hand dries and avoids the risk of towels running out between maintenance checks, whilst Tork PeakServe works well in larger schools because the dispenser holds more
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