School toilets are a bone of contention for many a parent. Memories of school toilets set a troubled foundation from which many parents worry about the health and safety of their little ones in the school playground. Catherine Pryce, 26, from Brighton, remembers "Our school loos were vile. The intimidating kids were always in their smoking and bullying the younger ones and there was never enough loo paper. There were spiders everywhere and the boys used to break in to pee in the sinks so that you couldn't wash your hands".
But what is the answer? CCTV within toilet buildings has never been a popular choice, and rules and passes to ensure that staff know which pupils are in the loo are far from practical.

Within the Albany Healthy Schools initiative, as yet, there are no specific guidelines to enforce hygiene within the loos. The government have also yet to include school toilets as part of the Ofsted remit despite a former Ofsted inspector admitting that "School toilets were the first place I would visit. If a school can't get the toilets right, it can make you wonder how much they care about their pupils and what else is deficient."

Here at Albany, we are trying hard to increase the standard of school toilets across the UK. It is clear that when you are at school drinking water is a necessity. Dehydration causes constipation, headaches, tiredness and a decreased concentration span. In a study conducted by the UK Youth Parliament in 2004, nearly 50% of pupils admitted they regularly avoided going to the toilet preferring to "hang on" until they got home. When asked about the reasons for this up to 40% gave their fear of being bullied when visiting the bathroom.

The lack of enforced regulation means that schools often have toilets up to 20 years old and conditions can often result in ill health and a lack of respect, encouraging bad behaviour. Sarah Tomas, 28, a primary teacher from Surrey explains "Our girls like to go in pairs because most of the locks don't work and they fear being seen by the passing boys. This can be difficult in the classroom situation because we are discouraged to send more than one pupil to the loo at once," she continues "The problem is the conditions in the toilets are so bad that it is the obvious place to vandalise and to wreck if a child is angry and to do something and not be seen. It is also the obvious place to smoke, which means that the kind of children that smoke are the ones who hang out and 'ditch' in the loos. These are also the kinds of kids to deface the loos and bully others."

In 'Broken Window Theory', a study by James Q. Wilson and George L. Kelling, it was suggested that at the local community level, anti-social behaviour (or disorder) and crime are usually inextricably linked, in a kind of developmental sequence. These behaviourists believed that if a window in a building was broken and left unrepaired, the rest of the windows will soon be broken. One unrepaired broken window is a signal that no one cares, and so breaking more windows costs nothing. The property is unattended. The same applied in the school loos and there has been much evidence to suggest that well looked after toilets get respected.

Here are a few ideas which we think may help to improve your school's toilets:
Redecorating the toilets to make the loos look great could be a brilliant art project. Get pupils to design and paint the walls themselves. They will then feel ownership and responsibility for the space.

Good hygiene is so important, especially around children who are more vulnerable to picking up germs than adults. Draw up a rota which allocates a member of staff per hour to check the toilets. These spot checks always decrease the amount of bullying that occurs in toilets.

Get hand dryers. Not only are hand dryers better for the environment and cheaper to run than getting through paper towels; they are cleaner and prevent as much litter, giving the naughtier children less opportunity to use them to block sinks and scatter on the floor.

Get soap dispensers instead of using bars of soap which are often used in bullying tactics and in acts of vandalism. They are also far more hygienic.
Make sure the bins and the feminine hygiene disposal units are emptied regularly and not left to overflow.

Remember the broken window theory: If something is defaced or broken, fix it immediately.

It is a great idea for younger children to have someone to come in and explain how to use the washroom facilities properly and why it is important. These sessions can then be backed up by the teachers who can rest assured that all the children have the same attitude and application.