Mixed Sex Toilets

Date Request Received: 24/07/2026  -  Date Response Sent: 15/09/2026

Details of Request

1) Do any of your schools have mixed-sex toilet areas for pupils aged 8+? ( areas where both male and female students congregate and queue for the same toilets. Please do not include a stand-alone toilet room, such as an accessible toilet.)

2) If the answer is yes to question 1, please name the schools with mixed-sex toilet areas.

3) If you have mixed-sex toilet areas for pupils aged 8+, are the toilets side by side?

4) If the answer is yes to question 3, please name the schools with mixed-sex toilets that are side by side.

5) If any of your schools have mixed-sex toilet areas for pupils aged 8+ (i.e. where male and female children use the same toilets side by side), what building material separates those toilets from each other?

6) Do all your schools have single-sex toilet areas for pupils aged 8+? (For example, toilet areas that only female children can access.)

7) If the answer is no to question 6 for any of your schools, please name them.

8) Has your organisation recently changed, or is it currently planning to change, its toilet provision in any of its schools in relation to the updated Keeping Children Safe in Education 2026?

9) If the answer is yes to question 8, please name the schools where changes have been made or are being planned.

Important information to consider

Academies must comply with’ The Education (Independent School Standards) Regulations 2014’, which states ”

Separate toilet facilities for boys and girls aged 8 years or over are provided except where the toilet facility is provided in a room that can be secured from the inside and that is intended for use by one pupil at a time”

It was never intended that standard size schools would be built with only ‘toilet rooms’, it was an added element that met various needs, and perhaps the needs of a very small community school.  No equalities impact assessment has been completed by the DfE as to the impact on female children, if the toilet provision in one or two form entry school is practically all unisex i.e. no female toilet areas for children aged 8+.

School toilet design not only has to comply with DfE technical standards it also has to comply with 

“The ‘Pattern Book’ and ‘Technical Manual’  Design standards: employer’s requirements – GOV.UK which stipulates which material ‘single room toilets’ cannot be made of.

You will be aware that the updated KSIE states that  “Where a school or college provides mixed-sex toilets in addition to single sex toilets, schools and colleges should assess safeguarding risks and plan accordingly, for example, mixed-sex toilets should be in individual, lockable rooms and open directly onto public areas (e.g. a corridor)”

Details of Response