Were toilet breaks during lessons allowed at your school?

[northwichcat]

Going to the toilet during a lesson wasn't usually permitted at my school but the teacher could permit it in an emergency. Sometimes if the classroom was right by a set of toilets the teacher permitted it even if it wasn't an emergency.

 

[northwichcat]

However that only really worked for 3 out of 5 lessons in the day, which preceded break, lunch & after school.

At my school we had afternoon registration after the last lesson, to ensure no-one went home before the end of the day. Although, registration was a bit pointless as all teachers had to report if anyone was absent from their lessons to the school office which resulted in most taking a register.

 

[Willr2094]

At all three of the schools I went to, toilet breaks during lessons were allowed but at the discretion of the teacher running the lesson. In my secondary school they also issued those requesting a toilet break with a special laminated pass to gain access to the corridor in lesson time.

Additionally, only one person at a time was allowed to go to the toilet as well.

 

[DynamicSpirit]

Interesting random topic for discussion. Somewhat embarrassingly, I'm trying to rack my brains and can't uncover any memory of toilets at any of my schools. Clearly there must have been somewhere, but I've just mentally done a complete tour of my comprehensive school (the only one for which I can remember enough of the geography of it), and not turned up anything in my brain, except possibly in the changing rooms, which would've only been accessible in PE lessons.

I also don't remember people asking to go to the loo during lessons, so I'm sure it wasn't the done thing, and I suspect it wouldn't usually have been permitted. Mind you, quite a few lessons were in 'temporary' huts away from the main building where any toilets would have been, so if the weather was cold or wet, there would have been a strong incentive not to want to go anyway!

Since - at comprehensive - our lessons were usually only each about an hour long, and we almost always changed rooms between lessons, often with a few minutes queuing outside the room before each lesson, I'm sure it wouldn't have been too difficult for anyone who wanted to go quickly between lessons.

 

[Starmill]

Our school was terrible. It's impractical to say no to people (especially for girls or anyone who has a medical need for more frequent trips to the toilet) so in general it was frowned upon but not refused. Obviously this was abused and lots of things like vandalism, kids who just ran off etc. were the result. But for me the big reason I didn't go was because the toilets were disgusting! They were usually partly flooded because someone had blocked a toilet, uncomfortable to use, broken locks, graffiti, moudled wet toilet paper stuck to the ceiling, no soap usually and never hot water. There was also only one set of boys toilets for everyone from year 7 all the way to the sixth formers. That meant not only were they really busy (and therefore very uncomfortable) at break time but that it was kind of intimidating being in year 7. I wonder if some people asked to go during lessons so they could do so without being surrounded by lots of older kids. I have the feeling that if any of the teachers had made a policy of not permitting toilet breaks ever, incidents where sinks, bins or furniture were used as toilets would have been much more common.

What a load of softies. We may theoretically have had toilets in the schools I attended but they were so rank that nobody ever used them. For much the same reasons (plus one or two others) I never had a shower at school after cross country, rugby or cricket.

The less said about what one of my PE teachers used to do when he needed to go to the toilet when we were out on the field, the better.

 

[MidnightFlyer]

The ones at my school were so grim it was preferable not to bother! That said mind we were like many others on here by the sounds of it, not encouraged but permitted in exceptionally circumstances. We had five sets dotted around the school, one for each year group and kept locked at all times. If you were allowed to go, you were given a pass to take to reception, obtained a key there, walk to wherever your year's set was, return the key and then return to class. It wasn't worth the hassle by and large.

 

[Crossover]

It's a decade since I left this summer, so my mind is a little hazy, but I seem to recall it being discouraged due to being disruptive but wasn't banned as such, though it may have been at times. Double periods may have been an exception. Almost certain there was no issue with use walking between lessons

That depends entirely on the job you are doing. Middle of a heart transplant operation? Probably not. In the middle of replying to an email? Probably not a problem.

Quite. Whilst I work in an office so can use facilities etc essentially whenever desired (jumping up in the middle of a meeting may not be a good time though!), many of my colleagues are production line and I can't imagine it'd be ideal to be losing folk from the production lines constantly so I whave Utd guess it'd be discouraged.

Teachers probably also need to set an example too

Our school was terrible. It's impractical to say no to people (especially for girls or anyone who has a medical need for more frequent trips to the toilet) so in general it was frowned upon but not refused. Obviously this was abused and lots of things like vandalism, kids who just ran off etc. were the result. But for me the big reason I didn't go was because the toilets were disgusting! They were usually partly flooded because someone had blocked a toilet, uncomfortable to use, broken locks, graffiti, moudled wet toilet paper stuck to the ceiling, no soap usually and never hot water. There was also only one set of boys toilets for everyone from year 7 all the way to the sixth formers. That meant not only were they really busy (and therefore very uncomfortable) at break time but that it was kind of intimidating being in year 7. I wonder if some people asked to go during lessons so they could do so without being surrounded by lots of older kids.

The less said about what one of my (male) PE teachers used to do when they needed to go to the toilet when we were out on the field, the better.

When I started at my school, they were all a free for all, but a few years in, some got designated per year group (or couple of year groups) partly for the reason you state towards the end of your reply. With a school of 1800 students, we had to have a few anyway - some were definitely better than others but on the whole they probably weren't bad.
Bizarrely, one of the newer blocks of split level on a hill (Art/DT down, IT up) was built with just a single set of facilities on the IT corridor, which were ladies (which was sometimes used by the female staff as well as students). We never did quite understand why it was designed this way!

 

[fowler9]

You were allowed to in my school but hardly anyone ever asked due to the withering glare you would get off the teacher.

 

[Starmill]

When I started at my school, they were all a free for all, but a few years in, some got designated per year group (or couple of year groups) partly for the reason you state towards the end of your reply. With a school of 1800 students, we had to have a few anyway - some were definitely better than others but on the whole they probably weren't bad.
Bizarrely, one of the newer blocks of split level on a hill (Art/DT down, IT up) was built with just a single set of facilities on the IT corridor, which were ladies (which was sometimes used by the female staff as well as students). We never did quite understand why it was designed this way!

I think that's fairly common. There were actually 3 sets of 'female toilets' at ours, because extensions had been stuck onto the original building here and there and they had just one room for loos added which was designated female. There was a set of male and female staff toilets too in one of the extensions, which the girls were told by teachers that they could use, owing to it being a very long walk to any others. Of course, it was equally long a walk to the only boys toilets, but we were very much not allowed to use the staff ones (someone did a couple of times and unluckily they walked in while a member of staff was in there so they were actually given detention in at least one case). The girls toilets elsewhere were also used by female staff, although not overtly.

 

[DarloRich]

I am surprised this is 'news'...
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-humber-39351614
I thought this was standard policy at most schools that pupils go at break, lunch or between lessons, rather than during lessons?

And anyone with a particular issue just brings in a note to get a toilet pass (which John Manolasses could do for his daughter)?

Isn't this school just doing what most schools do?

In the schools I went to you put your hand up and asked to go to the toilet.

 

[SteveP29]

Totally agree.
If you need to go, you just do, and eventulaly nature takes it's course. At least it did at our shcool. The kid will remain nameless in case hes' on here. When teh teacher said no you cant go, he ****ed in his bag, Glad I wasnt sat next to him.

I WAS sat next to a mate of mine who (when we were 13) was denied on 4 occasions within 20 minutes and yes, he was bursting, I don't know the circumstances behind why he hadn't gone at break, but you could see it on his face he was bursting and upon the 4th refusal began crying quietly because by then it had become painful.
It was Biology and we were all sat on those lab stools that comprehensive schools used in science rooms, and he eventually couldn't hold out and did p*** himself. He had to sit in it and it ran down the legs of the stool forming a pool on the floor, which he covered with his school bag, which of course was canvas, so it soaked it up.
His parents went absolutely light with the school and of course the bag and its contents were binned. He had to copy several sets of notes from various people to recover them.
I don't know what happened to the teacher in question, although I did find out a couple of years later (I moved towns and schools not long after the incident) that she'd died of a brain haemorrage

 

[Strathclyder]

There was no school policy actively discouraging it at either of my schools, but was largely seen as disruptive to the lesson regardless. However, if you needed to go, you asked the teacher and if he/she was lenient enough, you could go. If ya gotta go, ya gotta go. The restrooms in both my primary school (I think. It's been nearly 9 years since I left) and high school (both in the old and new buildings) were shared by all years, which made for a few rather tight, uncomfortable experiences to say the least, particularly at my high school's new building!

I explicitly remember the restroom facilities in my old high school buildings being particularly unpleasant to use, even ignoring the issue of crowding. Utterly reeking, graffiti/vandalism/broken locks/leaking pipes galore, with moldy toilet paper often stuck to the walls/ceilings. Seeing as my year (2008-2009) was the last lot of 1st-year pupils to use the old 1930s building (with the customary 1970s extensions & 'improvements') before it was replaced & demolished, I guess that rectifying these problems was no longer seen as a priority by the time I started. While understandable from a practical point of view, it was highly unpleasant to say the least!

 

[GusB]

It was always frowned upon - "why didn't you go at break?" - but never disallowed completely. If you have to go, you have to go. We had to put our hands up and ask politely. Our second-year English teacher (deputy head) took great delight in correcting those who asked "can I go to the toilet please?"

It's a bit barbaric to refuse a request to fulfil a basic human need, in my opinion.

 

[SteveP29]

Our second-year English teacher (deputy head) took great delight in correcting those who asked "can I go to the toilet please?"

That just jogged a memory (it has been 28 years since i was in school)
Our Chemistry teacher used to reply to can i go, with: 'you' can, but you may not'

 

[northwichcat]

That just jogged a memory (it has been 28 years since i was in school)
Our Chemistry teacher used to reply to can i go, with: 'you' can, but you may not'

I remember one of my teachers (an Oxford University alumnus) responding to one of the cleverest girls in the year by saying "Well I'm sure you can" which caught her out because she thought she'd been given permission until the teacher said "You haven't actually asked me for permission, have you?"

 

[northwichcat]

The restrooms in both my primary school (I think. It's been nearly 9 years since I left) and high school (both in the old and new buildings) were shared by all years, which made for a few rather tight, uncomfortable experiences to say the least, particularly at my high school's new building!

We had a set of toilets allocated to each year scattered out around the school and if you were using the toilets at break or lunch you were supposed to use the ones for your year but if going between lessons (or if you were given permission to go during lessons) you were supposed to use the nearest ones.

 

[CC 72100]

We had a set of toilets allocated to each year scattered out around the school and if you were using the toilets at break or lunch you were supposed to use the ones for your year but if going between lessons (or if you were given permission to go between lessons) you were supposed to use the nearest ones.

Did you therefore strategically ask to go in different lessons in different parts of the building to 'red pen' some rare (to you) toilets?

 

[northwichcat]

It's a bit barbaric to refuse a request to fulfil a basic human need, in my opinion.

If you're on a coach without a toilet and told they'll be two service station stops where you can use the toilets, is that any different to being told to use the toilets between lessons?

 

[GatwickDepress]

If you're on a coach without a toilet and told they'll be two service station stops where you can use the toilets, is that any different to being told to use the toilets between lessons?

That's an entirely different kettle of fish! The toilets don't cease to funcion whenever a lesson begins.

 

[fowler9]

If you're on a coach without a toilet and told they'll be two service station stops where you can use the toilets, is that any different to being told to use the toilets between lessons?

Erm, yes? Not been on a coach without a bog for a while anyway. Would probably try and avoid that situation.

 

[PeterC]

We were allowed toilet breaks but it was exceptional for someone to ask to go. It just wasn't the done thing.

Same here

 

[anti-pacer]

At my school we could, although we only asked in exceptional circumstances.

Our lesson pattern was;

0855 Registration
0900 Assembly or Form Period
0920 Lesson 1
1030 Break
1045 Lesson 2
1155 Lunch Break
1255 Registration
1300 Lesson 3
1410 Lesson 4
1520 End of day

As you can see, we had long lessons and no afternoon break, so it wasn't uncommon for Lesson 4 to have a delayed start.

 

[me123]

^We had a much more intensive day at our school.

0900: Registration
0905: Assembly/"Extended Registration" (doss around) on Wednesdays
0925: Period 1
1005: Period 2
1045: Period 3
1125: Break
1140: Period 4
1220: Period 5
1300: Lunch
1350: Afternoon Registration (I think they dropped this at some point because it was completely pointless)
1400: Period 6
1440: Period 7
1520: Period 8
1600: Home

(Obviously there were also lots of "double periods" during the day where you didn't move between classes - I don't think I ever had eight separate lessons in the day).

So we actually had quite a lot of time moving between classes where you could quickly pop to the loo if needed. Again, that's probably why most people didn't go during lessons unless they absolutely had to. There were plenty of opportunities, and it is a bit embarrassing to ask to pee in front of your peers.

 

[185143]

At my school, it was pretty well known that asking in a period right after break/lunch would result in a refusal, however at any other time you were highly likely to be given permission. I did have one teacher that would reply 'I don't know, can you?' Whenever someone asked if they were able/could they go to the toilet