Pupils are using enclosed toilet cubicles in mixed sex facilities at school for drug dealing and drinking, teachers say. Concerns have been raised by a campaign group over issues including health and safety, bullying, sexual harassment and problems with hygiene and privacy over school facilities which offer enclosed cubicles with floor to ceiling doors but mixed handwashing arrangements.
The warnings come in a report by Merched Cymru that claims some mixed sex toilets in schools in Wales are breaking the law. The group, which describes itself as “a grassroots group of ordinary women from across Wales working to protect and strengthen the sex-based rights of women and girls”, claimed some new and refurbished school buildings across Wales are illegally introducing only mixed sex toilet facilities.
According to the law, children over the age of eight must be provided with the option of single-sex toilet facilities. This means that having only a toilet facility with fully enclosed cubicles designated male and female, with floor to ceiling doors, and then a shared handwashing arrangements does not meet legal requirements.
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Research by Merched Cymru says that 15% (10) of the 68 secondary schools it received responses from across all 22 local education authorities in Wales only have mixed sex toilet provision. Some of these toilets “are not compliant with the law, and present considerable problems, particularly for girls”, the document adds. More than 30 pupils were suspended after a schools toilet protest in Wales went viral on TikTok and you can read more about that here
More schools said they have single sex and unisex toilets, the group said. Schools that have provided additional, fully self-contained gender-neutral toilets with their own handwashing facilities have been described by some as a good alternative.
Offering gender neutral toilets in schools are important to make sure that trans and non-binary students are able to access facilities that they feel comfortable using, Stonewall says. The charity added many non-binary people feel excluded from gendered facilities and avoid using them altogether, adding offering them a safe space will enhance their experience at school or college and make sure they can use the toilet safely.
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Asked their views on mixed sex toilets, some teachers and school staff told Merched Cymru they created serious problems. One told the report: “Toilets are a challenge in any school, but there were massive issues, definitely made worse by the layout (fully enclosed unisex cubicles with shared handwashing) and being mixed sex. There was drug dealing in cubicles – you had no idea how many kids were in there at any time,” one said.
“Kids would go in there to have sex, to drink alcohol. They’d push other kids in and lock themselves in with them. They’d block the drains and flood the corridor.” Another responded: “The toilets were really smelly and unpleasant. Because they were fully enclosed spaces they weren’t properly ventilated, and harder to clean.”
One teacher was worried someone could collapse unnoticed in a completely enclosed cubicle. They said: “The CCTV in the corridor was only any good retrospectively. The toilets had turn locks, so you could open them from the outside if you needed to, but you couldn’t hear through the door, couldn’t see whether there was one or two people in there, or if someone had collapsed.
“You had to check CCTV before opening. So you would have a paralytic drunk student, or one who had overdosed on prescription drugs, collapsed and you’d have to go and check the CCTV before opening the door on them. Kids would push up the ceiling tiles and hide stuff up there – drugs or whatever. Because the cubicle was fully enclosed they could do so without anyone being able to see it.”
What schools said about their loos
Merched Cymru sent Freedom of Information requests to a sample of secondary schools in every local authority in Wales, including English and Welsh medium schools.
The group sent 84 requests and received 68 responses, including at least one response from every local authority area. 54 schools (79%) said yes, they have single sex toilets. 25 of these said they have single sex and unisex toilets, but it wasn’t clear whether this meant they had single sex blocks and mixed sex blocks (which is not compliant with school premises regulations), or single sex blocks with additional standalone single-occupancy provision, with handwashing included (which is compliant with regulations).
Ten schools (15%) said they had only unisex toilets. Unless these are all standalone facilities with their own handwashing facilities, these are not compliant with school premises regulations, Merched Cymru said.
A further four schools “gave answers that were not clear” and two said they had been intending to have only mixed sex toilet provision but had had to change plans due to objections from parents.
Merched Cymru said one entirely new building for a school which has a majority Muslim school roll, was originally planned with mixed sex toilets but “ a compromise has been reached with a divider separating boys and girls’ toilet cubicles on two sides, and communal areas still visible from the corridor. There are still no urinals.”
One school has had to have recently installed toilets altered to comply with legal requirements, following high profile pupil protests but there are still no urinals for boys, the group said.
"Dirty and unhygienic"
Removing urinals makes it harder to keep school toilets clean, argues Merched Cymru. The group said: "Fully enclosed cubicles with floor to ceiling doors, as installed as standard in new Welsh Government-funded schools, are poorly ventilated and therefore more likely to be smelly.
"Children deserve privacy away from the opposite sex. For example, many girls report feeling awkward about it being obvious when they have their period. We have had reports of both boys and girls refusing to use school toilets at all during the school day due to the embarrassment of mixed sex facilities, and many children trying to avoid using the toilets when there are other children around.”
The report goes on to say: “Mixed sex toilet provision has considerable disadvantages and risks for all the children, including those who identify as trans or nonbinary. Additional, fully self-contained unisex toilets do raise other safety issues, but they are a better solution to cater for these children, and would be compliant with the current regulations.”
What the law says on mixed sex school toilets
The School Premises Regulations 1999 apply in Wales and state that children over the age of eight must be provided with single-sex toilet facilities. Cubicles with shared handwashing arrangements do not meet legal requirements, even if the cubicles themselves are designated male and female, and even if the cubicle is fully enclosed, with a floor-to-ceiling door.
The regulations highlight the need to cater for transgender students but does not provide exact guidance on how to do so.
“Many schools offer additional, fully self-contained unisex/gender-neutral toilets with handwashing facilities. These are fully compliant with the law, and a good alternative option for children who don’t feel comfortable using the toilets available for their sex", Merched Cymru said.
The group wants local education authorities, who hold ultimate responsibility for legal compliance, to ensure that all school buildings provide toilet facilities which are safe and compliant with the law, and make sure that all current and future building projects also do so.
It said it was up to the Welsh Government, in its school building programme to “ensure that public money is spent legally and responsibly, by ensuring that all school building projects are compliant with the law”.
Any change to the current regulations would require a full public consultation and an examination of the evidence for any proposed change, Merched Cymru points out.
Merched Cymru claims mixed sex facilities are being installed “as default” in government-funded school building projects. The group said there has been a lack of consultation and claimed concerns raised for years have been ignored. Its report Breaking the Law - Mixed Sex Toilets in Wales’ Schools said both boys and girls “have a right to privacy and dignity in a single sex space when using the toilet”. The Welsh Government said the provision and design of toilets, changing rooms and washing facilities for pupils is a matter for the school and local authority.
The group report said that in some schools the toilets installed are sex-labelled cubicles with shared handwashing facilities, which they claim is not helpful for chidren "with anxiety around using the toilet facilities for their sex, given that choice of cubicle would be more public and not less”.
The Welsh Government responds
Responding to the report a Welsh Government spokesperson 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 for school buildings awarded are subject to compliance with all relevant laws and regulations. It is the local authority’s responsibility to ensure that all applicable regulations to schools are adhered to, the spokesperson added.
