More than one in 10 parents say their children have asked to miss school because of the poor state of the toilets, new figures suggest.
A new poll by charity Parentkind found almost a third of parents have raised concerns about school toilets to staff, while about one in six say the loos at their child’s school are unclean.
One parent said the toilets were so dirty their children ‘felt like they were stepping into a horror movie’, while another said their child had spotted cockroaches in the toilets.
The Censuswide poll of 2,000 parents to school-age children found 11% of parents said their children had missed school or asked to stay at home because of worries about the school loos.
They added some children had either wet themselves in school or suffered constipation while trying to avoid using the toilets.
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Earlier this week Chancellor Rachel Reeves announced schools will receive about £2.3billion per year to fix ‘crumbling classrooms’ and £2.4billion a year to rebuild 500 schools.
In response, the chief executive of Parentkind called on the government to use some of those funds to make school loos ‘fit for use’.
Jason Elsom said: ‘With a million children facing humiliation because of the disgusting state of school toilets, we need to shine a light on the health and well-being of our children who are refusing to drink during the day to avoid going to the toilet and the millions of children suffering constipation because their school toilets are so dirty.
‘Parents tell us that we need to set aside the cash to clean and upgrade school loos.
‘Parents tell us their children have seen “cockroaches coming out of the floors” and toilets “covered in poo and urine”.’
The Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL) says it’s ‘dismayed’ at the research findings, and said ‘years of government underfunding’ may in part explain why parents feel this way about school bathrooms.
Pepe Di’lasio, general secretary of the ASCL, added: ‘Schools understand the vital importance of toilets being clean and in good order, work hard to ensure this is the case, and will be dismayed at the findings of this research.
‘Many schools are struggling with old and outdated buildings which require a great deal of maintenance.
‘We urgently need improved investment in upgrading and modernising school buildings.’
A Department for Education spokesperson said: ‘We’re investing in excellence everywhere for every child, which is why this government is dedicated to fixing the foundations by rebuilding crumbling school buildings.
‘Despite inheriting a schools estate in disrepair, the government is creating safe learning environments through condition funding and ramping up the School Rebuilding Programme to give children growing up in our country the best start in life.
‘We have increased overall capital budgets by over a billion pounds a year on average, the highest since 2010, showing this government’s strong and unwavering commitment to the maintenance and renewal of the education estate.’
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