'Like a horror movie': One in 10 parents say children avoid school over 'filthy' toilets
14 June 2025, 02:43
More than one in 10 parents said their children have asked to miss school because of concerns about school toilets, a survey has suggested.
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A poll of 2,000 parents of school-aged children in the UK suggests around one in six (17%) parents rated the toilets at their child’s school as unclean.
Nearly a third (31%) of families said they have raised concerns about the toilets with school staff, according to a survey for charity Parentkind.
One parent told the charity that the toilets were so dirty that their children “felt like they were stepping into a horror movie”, while another parent said their child had seen cockroaches in the school toilets.
The Censuswide poll suggests that 11% of parents said their child had missed school, or asked to stay at home, because of worries about the toilets at school.
The charity is calling on the Government to prioritise funds to improve “disgusting” school toilets as part of plans to improve the school estate.
It comes after the Chancellor announced around £2.3 billion per year for fixing “crumbling classrooms” and £2.4 billion per year to rebuild 500 schools.
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Some surveyed parents suggested their children had wet themselves at school, or suffered constipation, because of avoiding the toilets at their school.
Jason Elsom, chief executive of Parentkind, called for Government funds set out in the spending review to be used to make school toilets “fit for use”.
He 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’.”
Pepe Di’Iasio, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL), said: “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“Many schools are struggling with old and outdated buildings which require a great deal of maintenance because of years of government underfunding, and this may play a role in the perceptions reflected by respondents.
“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.”
