A serious question about scholl toilets etc

[Vienne_Billygoats]

Hi, This is a serious question, when our 4.5yr old daughter started at the local Ecole Privee Primarie yesterday, she said that they did not have any toilet paper in the communal toilets.

We noticed the same, but wondered if that was what the 2 boxes of tissues which each child brought, were destined for...?

But what is the scenario? - our daughter had a really good time yesterday & today, but does not know what to do about the non-existant toilet roll.

Do they ask for a sheet (spelling!!) before they go?, or is there some other cunning plan?

Please respond soon, she goes back on Thursday, and we will have to ask the teacher otherwise - which is quite embarassing.

Many thanks,

VB

 

[Teamedup]

This happened to us when my sons were young. They came home on their first lunch time, no toilet paper, soap, or towels. I took all these things in on the lunch time and the headmistress made a fuss about it not being necessary, mon oeil they weren't necessary.

 

Schools are obliged to furnish these most basic of things. And my things were not replaced by school stock for a day or so.

 

Please don't be embarrassed, you aren't the ones who should be embarrassed about this. There will be the parents elections soon, get involved, get elected, bring this up.

[naps]

Our soon to be 4 year old, will be starting school for the first time on Friday.  We visited the school prior to the summer holidays beginning and being in a new place she insisted she needed the toilet.  We went with her and it wasn't until she was sitting down in the on one of the open plan toilets that we realised there was no toilet paper.  There was however a dispenser on one of the walls.  We've told her that when she goes to the toilet she'll have to get a piece of tissue before sitting down - although she's bound to forget.  Ask your children to take a good look around to see if there's a dispenser in the room, but not necessarily near the toilet.

[cary]

i have 3 children age 4, 8 and 11, i just asked them if they had loo roll and soap as nothing had been mentioned to me and all 3 of them said yes they do.  I would imagine it should be provided.  The public loo's in the village or at the beach etc tend not to have tissue paper and i have been told that as they are used by so many people they don't provide loo roll as they don't want the toilets getting blocked but this shouldn't be the case at school.

[Mistral]

I've never thought of this but now I think back, I can't remember seeing any toilet paper in my daughter's maternelle.

I've just asked child#1 if there was any in his primary; apparently there was but on the other side of the room so you had to think to get it before you went in the cubicle.

I have to say that in all the colleges I have worked the pupils' toilets have been unpleasant. They are usually semi-outdoors since pupils can't go iside the building during breaks or lunch. The loo paper is often at the concierge's office or the vie scolaire so they have to go and ask for a few sheets and then trail across the main entrance hall with them. Most of my pupils just make sure they have tissues in their bags. but this isn't possible for maternelle age kids.

[naps]

It's really got me thinking this one, so I've decided that as my little one will be wearing a dress with pockets, I'm going to send her with a couple of sheets of tissue paper in each one, that way if she forgets to pick some up before sitting down, she'll not get too stressed.

 

[Teamedup]

A lycee I visted had indoor loos for the girls. No doors on the cubicles.  And on a Saturday the bins were overflowing with used sanitary articles. I nearly made my self ill that day. I just could not go in there and use the loo with the world watching. These were worse than unpleasant and no one batted an eyelid about them.

We were at a regional FCPE meeting.

What used to annoy me most was the lack of education in maternelle about hand washing. There was no reason why the assistant didn't get the little ones to do it everytime, but she didn't and I was considered too fussy and mad. We have constant epidemies of gastro's in this village. No wonder, no one washes their hands when they have been to the loo

 I was always was well aware, we as a family never caught anything during these gastro epidemies.

[Tourangelle]

I've been to university here, and you had to take the toilet paper before going into the cubicule, so it is not just the maternelle!

[Washy]

It is a trend I have even noticed in some public toilets.....no paper in the individual loos but a dispenser on the wall.

Regarding the lack of soap and towels etc......this is also normal. 

Last week I was in the doctor's brand new surgery which has excellent facilities.  A small girl (6 ish) went into the toilet, did not shut the door and came out without washing her hands or pulling the chain, her mother complained about the chain and sent her back, then sent her back to switch off the light but did not comment on or make her wash her hands??????  The same thing happened a short while later with a boy aged about 8, this time his mother went in and flushed the toilet!!! Again no comment about not washing his hands. Yuk.....

[Vienne_Billygoats]

Well having read your responses, I went in this morning having learnt a few useful words to do with toilets and hygiene and with my daughters pockets full of spare tissues, only to find that the caretaker/janitor was installing a paper dispenser for each toilet and a soap dispenser at the sink. Still no towels but who cares the main problem seems to be resolved, without me having to embarrass myself using my rather basic French on such a delicate matter.

Many thanks

[naps]

We dropped our little girl off this morning, and nerves dictated that she needed a toilet stop.  Although I loathe the open plan system, which has a 2 metre open wall with corridor running past, I'm pleased to report that not only her pockets were stocked with tissue, but there was a plentiful supply in the room.

No soap on view, but there were towels.  She's a bit obsessed with washing her hands after visiting the toilet, so I can already picture her telling the other children they MUST do it, at some point today!

[Val_2]

The question of cleanliness and hygiene is abysmal here in France where children are concerned, who is to blame - the parents as they are no better. Every time a child has come here or even an adult and used our loo, they have never flushed it,washed their hands or even asked to do so as the bathroom is seperate. As regards school toilets, I have seen for myself and heard the complaints from my children over the years from primary to Lycée and its the people who use them that should be educated to flush and wash, especially number twos which are left to sit all day.

[Deby]

My daughter hated the outside toilets with no lock, no seat and no paper in her school. She was in Grande Section too! I always sent her armed with tissues. One of the reasons she liked to come home at lunchtime was if she needed to do something she would wait! Goodness knows what she will think of the nice clean, private ones in the UK?!

Incidentally, I did raise the appalling toilet issue at one of school meetings and was completely shot down by the headmistress and the other parents thought it was not as important as siting the new location for the school noticeboard. I was treated to the 'foreigner syndrome' that is, we do things differently in France. I do not think so, as there are schools with better facilities, but sometimes when you are different, you are treated like an imbecile and I have found that the rural french like to play this card a little too often at times. It annoys me, as I speak good enough french and have lived and worked in France to know how things should and shouldnt be. I feel sorry for those parents who will undoubtedly get fobbed off.

[opas]

Lo and behold! eldest girl started college today......practically the first words out of her mouth were a request that we buy some multipacks of pocket size tissues, no loo roll! soap is in a containner that apparently you can just get your hand into to rub a bit off (how hygenic is that!!) so on the rentree list we now have wet wipes and tissues

Lets not go overboard though, I can think back to my secondary school loos  in the UK......not for the feignt hearted, after the brave and stupid had had their crafty ciggy, one had to gulp for air and hope that the loo roll had not been dropped on the floor for a laugh, supprised more of us did not end up with health problems.

Mrs O

[Tourangelle]

Nice clean private ones in the UK? It was so bad in my secondary school that the pupils set up a special fund raising money to reequip them.

[Mistral]

I was treated to the 'foreigner syndrome' that is, we do things differently in France. I do not think so, as there are schools with better facilities, but sometimes when you are different, you are treated like an imbecile and I have found that the rural french like to play this card a little too often at times

It's not just the rural french, urban French do it too. If you don't agree with the way something is done, it's not really your fault; you are just ignorant and in need on training, then you'll understand.

I have commented on the revolting state of the toilets in the schools I've worked in (I agree that the ones in my school in the UK were revolting but they were made so by the pupils, not designed that way to start with) but I seem to be the only person bothered. Even parents who complain about the fact the school dishwashing system leaves the cutlery greyish seem to think the toilet situation is normal. Probably because most children learn early on to hold on all day and go when they're at home.

Mrs O, your daughter will probably find that the toilet paper is at the loge or the vie scolaire and she is expected to go and ask for it. That's what happens in my school. It has to be provided, but not necessarily in the toilets. My eldest started college yesterday too and I made sure he had a pack of tissues in his pocket.

[Fantine<br><br><br><br>Susie]

No loo roll at my son's college either (he started 6e yesterday too). It's kept at the Vie Scolaire but I've given him pocket tissues just in case. Must be worse for girls.

[Lori]

To make matters worse, when I was at my daughter's primary school, there are no doors on the bathrooms, so all can be seen doing their business (some are 10 and 11 years old and privacy is an issue).  PLUS, many are sitting directly on the toilets, no seat covers or tissue to try to protect them from nasty bacteria.  Most of the French parents I talked to about this simply shake their heads and say, that's the way it is...

I taught my daughter to stand - not pleasant, but some of these bathrooms are really awful.  I've seen ugly bathrooms all over the world, oddly (perhaps it is just my weird mind to think it odd) the cleanest I saw were in Asia.

[Viv]

My daughter also takes a discreet packet of baby wipes, which she uses on her hands before she has her lunch.

[flower]

I was quite surprised by this topic as the toilet facilities in my children's maternelle school seem pretty okay. Clean, with loo rolls next to each toilet, lots of sinks and several paper towel dispensers, so I thought I'd ask the kids if they are always told to wash their hands after using the toilet. Apparently they are...unless it's during playtime because then they will only go back outside and get dirty again....mmmm!!

[cary]

My 4 year old and 8 year old are told to wash their hands by their teachers.  And i also find the loo's clean although they are open plan as most seem to be.  But the children here don't seem to be bothered by that, nor by changing in front of each other.  In the uk if my 4 year old, yes 4 year old accidently flashed her knickers the kids at school, especially the elder one's would all make a hugh deal of it!!  Here the children don't seem to take any notice of it at all.