Haddington: Knox Academy toilets being targeted by vandals

Vandalism has been caused to the secondary school’s toilets, and the situation has reached such a level that a letter has been sent to parents and carers.

Sue Cook, headteacher at the school, said that steps were now being taken to try to address the “significant issue”.

She wrote: “Unfortunately, since our return from the summer holidays, a minority of our young people seem to think it is acceptable to graffiti the toilet walls and/or stuff copious amounts of toilet roll down the toilet, blocking it and causing it to flood all over the floor.

“They have also been stuffing the much-fought-for free period products down the toilet.

“This means that these are not accessible in the toilets for those who need them.

“Food is also strewn all over the floors too. This makes using our school toilets highly undesirable for most of our school population, as all suffer from the selfishness of a minority.”

Already, “numerous” assemblies have been held to highlight the school’s values of respect and community.

Pupils have also been spoken to about the need to use facilities in the school “in a respectful manner”.

Noting names

Ms Cook further told parents and carers: “The damage done to the toilets affects the accessibility of them for all young people as we have to then close them to clean them. It is also costing the school a lot of money to pay to repair the damage caused – money we should be using to resource learning and teaching.

“In order to move things forward, we will be asking teachers to note names of all young people accessing the toilets during class time and, if a young person asks out four or more times in a week, we will contact you.

“If your young person does have a medical condition that requires them to have discretion/toilet pass, please contact their house team so we can arrange this.

“We do appreciate that it is a human right to access toilets and, since the Covid years, we have aimed to adopt a responsible approach to young people accessing them during class time.”

The main toilet blocks are shut during lesson time, with cubicle toilets open throughout the school.

Toilet monitors were ruled out due to budgetary constraints.

Ms Cook said: “As I said earlier in this letter, this is a minority of young people damaging our school property but we need to work together as a community to give a clear message to the minority that this behaviour is unacceptable.

“I would ask that in conversation with your young person about the contents of this letter, if they do know who is damaging school property, to report this to any member of staff so we can put a stop to this behaviour.”