Schools can be notoriously chaotic environments. Kids are experts when it comes to making a mess, and while it can be a bit of a pain to deal with, it’s often something that school managers need to accept.
Making a mess is all part of the learning experience, but in order to make sure that children are able to learn in as safe an environment as possible, it’s important to take care when cleaning those messes up.
If you’re at your wit’s end, and need some inspiration on how to keep your school clean, then you’re in luck – we’ve compiled a list of 12 top school cleaning tips from professionals in the industry.
First things first – before doing anything else, you need to come up with a comprehensive cleaning plan. Cleaning in school environments should never be purely reactive – you need to be one step ahead of the game at all times.
While this can obviously be based on useful templates that you find online, ultimately, it will have to be adapted to fit the environment that you’re working with. No two schools are exactly the same, and you’ll need to take into consideration a wide range of different variables.
School environments are prone to ongoing change, and it’s important that this is kept in mind at all times. The initial plan that you come up with might be perfect at that very moment, but the second you add new facilities or activities to the mix, it will become outdated.
Your approach to cleaning needs to remain dynamic in order to stay as effective as it needs to be. The more frequently you update your strategy, the less drastic each change will need to be, allowing for an increased level of continuity in the long run.
Kids can be especially sensitive to harsh chemicals, and it’s part of your overall duty of care to ensure that the products that you’re using are totally safe. Even if the products you’re using are safe, if the smell is excessively strong, it can present an unwelcome distraction in the classroom environment.
Make sure that you look into any potential allergens contained in all of the products you use.
If you employ a professional cleaning service, then check with them that the chemicals they’re using are all up to scratch. It may represent a small additional cost increase, but safety must always come first.
While it’s important that toilets in all professional spaces are kept clean, it can require a little additional effort in the case of school bathrooms.
Kids can be a bit messier than adults in these spaces, and it’s crucial that you’re able to provide them with a clean, sanitary environment at all times. This means cleaning cubicles, of course, but also mirrors and other areas that may attract grime and build-ups of dirt.
This may mean cleaning multiple times a day, in the morning, mid-day, and afternoon. Staff toilets may not need to be cleaned quite as frequently, perhaps just twice a day. Again, it’s important to make sure that the products used are appropriate for those who are sensitive.
Even if you use the most expensive, high quality cleaning products, you still need to make sure that the areas you clean receive adequate ventilation, to clear out any strong smells or potential allergens.
This might mean leaving windows slightly open overnight, or having certain portable fans present to help ensure adequate airflow.
You may need to encourage communication between teachers and cleaning staff on these issues. If cleaning staff are only present at the end of the day for example, they may not know if there was enough ventilation to clean the space by the time classes start in the morning.
The concepts of cleanliness and respecting our environment are important concepts that each and every one of us have to learn at some point. As a result, while it’s important to use professionally trained cleaners, teachers should also aim to involve pupils in the overall cleaning process themselves.
This is also due to certain practical implications. For example, there often simply won’t be time for cleaners to come into a classroom between, say, art class and maths – the kids will need to learn to clean up the mess they made themselves, in the last part of the lesson.
Children often have a lower level of spatial awareness compared to adults. This means that they’re more prone to tripping up and falling, especially when running around.
While many schools have a rule that no one is to run in classrooms or even in corridors, it’s also important to maintain spaces in a way that ensures there are no unnecessary tripping hazards around.
This can become an even more important health and safety issue when it comes to fire safety. In the case that the school needs to be evacuated, whether as part of a drill or an actual genuine emergency, it’s vital that there are no tripping hazards that could potentially cause further harm.
Schools are often prime locations for germs and viruses to spread. While this is to a certain extent unavoidable, with so many people contained in a relatively small area, there are definitely measures that you can take to mitigate these issues.
You can also encourage the children to regularly wash and disinfect their hands, but you also need to put in place other simple measures.
It’s important to wipe down regularly touched surfaces, such as light switches, door handles, and communal pencil sharpeners. At the end of the day, professional cleaners should also take care to wipe down a range of other areas, depending on the activities of that space on day.
Cleaning is an essential element of risk management, and it’s important that you treat it as such.
You should take care to actively integrate risk assessments into your overall approach to cleaning, looking into specific risks (such as tripping hazards and potentially toxic chemicals) and then identifying the appropriate cleaning measures necessary to tackle those risks.
This will help to ensure that your approach to cleaning remains up-to-date, and will also help to assist with regulatory compliance. With regulations covering school environments becoming increasingly strict over the past decade, this is absolutely not something to overlook.
Some schools can cover absolutely vast premises, consisting of multiple different functionally specific buildings and areas. To ensure that your approach to cleaning is as effective as possible, you’ll need to take care to divide that space up into multiple different sectors.
Your plan should treat each space as a separate entity, taking care of a range of different specific hazards. There should be a specialised tick-list for all of these spaces, and a rota to ensure that nothing goes overlooked. As with any complex task, dividing it up into separate components will make it feel a lot more manageable in the long run.
This article has mostly covered cleaning the inside of schools, but it’s equally important to take care of the exterior as well. Maintaining a clean building and tidy space helps to show students that they’re going into a serious environment each day, helping to illustrate that they in turn need to be serious.
It will also have an impact on the way that parents perceive your school and your brand. This can be incredibly important for the long term success of your organisation.
Finally, it’s important that you provide all staff in the school with at least a base level of training when it comes to cleaning. Teachers should be aware of general risks to be aware of, and of their specific responsibilities when it comes to maintaining a clean and safe classroom environment.
This training will potentially need to cater to the precise subjects they teach, with topics such as chemistry and English literature having very different risk profiles. The training will need to be updated on a regular basis, to ensure that it remains fresh in the minds of the relevant parties, while continuing to comply with the relevant regulatory requirements.
Cleaning in school environments is something that should never be overlooked in terms of importance. This article should have started to drive home just how important it is, while also providing you with some top tips on how to make life easier.
As it’s such an all-encompassing issue, it’s important to involve as many different parties as possible.
From teachers and students to professional cleaners, the more people that are involved, the more widely spread the burden will be. Seeking professional assistance with these matters is often both a regulatory and practical necessity – it will save you a lot of time and effort, and will generally end up being more cost-effective than trying to take care of it yourself.
Want to speak to our team of school cleaning experts? We’d love to discuss how we can provide a bespoke strategy for your requirements. Head to our contact form today or call our team directly on 0161 282 6444.
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