More than one in 10 parents said their children have asked to miss school because of concerns about school toilets, a survey has found.

A poll of 2,000 parents of school-aged children in the UK found that 17 per cent of parents rated the toilets at their child’s school as unclean.

Some 31 per cent of families said they have raised concerns about toilets with school staff, according to the survey for the charity Parentkind. However, when parents do complain about the state of the toilets at their child’s school, 43 per cent say nothing changes.

‘Stepping into a horror movie’

One parent told the charity that the toilets were so dirty their children “felt like they were stepping into a horror movie”; another said their child had seen cockroaches in the school toilets.

While 12 per cent of primary school parents told the pollsters that their child’s school toilets were unclean, this jumped to 25 per cent of parents with a child at secondary school.

Parentkind estimates that about 4,300 schools are struggling to maintain toilet cleanliness, with 42 per cent of parents saying they are worried that the state of some school toilets is affecting their child’s ability to “concentrate” in class.

In the Censuswide poll, 11 per cent 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” toilets as part of plans to upgrade the school estate.

It comes after the chancellor Rachel Reeves announced £2.3 billion per year for fixing “crumbling classrooms” and £2.4 billion per year to rebuild 500 schools.

Some surveyed parents suggested their children had wet themselves at school or suffered constipation because they avoided using the toilets at their school.

Pupils ‘refusing to drink during school day’

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 wellbeing 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.”

Mr Elsom added: “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, 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.”

He added: “We urgently need improved investment in upgrading and modernising school buildings.”

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