The school’s headteacher enforced the rule after claiming the toilets were being used as a gathering point for pupils – and that mirrors were responsible for ‘some issues at transition times’
A school in Lincolnshire has sparked outrage after it banned mirrors in its toilets – after claiming pupils were spending too much time looking at themselves.
Grant Edgar, headmaster at William Farr Church of England Comprehensive School in Welton, enforced the rule after pupils were reportedly spending too much time gathered around mirrors inside the school toilets, causing them to turn up late to lessons and make other students feel uncomfortable.
Mr Edgar said mirrors were responsible for “some issues at transition times” which was “affecting punctuality”. He said if each lesson across the school year started two minutes late, pupils would be losing 6.4 days’ worth of learning time.
He told the BBC those who need a mirror “for a medical purpose” can request one at the reception. But the rule hasn’t been a hit with parent, who branded it “silly”, “extreme” and “a bit strange”.
One parent named Kelly, who chose not to share her last name, told the Telegraph she was worried the odd move would cause problems for her daughter, who wears contact lenses and has braces. She said: “She does need a mirror if she needs to get her contact lenses out”, and claimed that the decision does “not get rid of any issues”.
Another mum, also called Kelly, branded the school’s decision to ban the mirrors as “silly” and “a bit extreme”. She said: “They’re just mirrors, aren’t they? We have mirrors at home, why can’t we have them in school?” One parent, Karen, backed the change, saying it would allow her daughter to get to her lessons on time instead of checking her eyelashes “hadn’t fallen off”.
According to child psychologist Emma Kenny, although schools have “a right to institute rules”, children should be “part of decisions” that affect their lives. She said: “You don’t know what’s going on in that kid’s life. That hub in the bathroom where they are checking make-up and covering spots can be powerfully important to them.”
Kenny added that the focus should be to question why children feel the need to spend so much time hanging out in the bathrooms in the first place.
A spokesperson for the school said: “Last week we made the decision to remove the mirrors from all student toilet facilities across the campus to speed up lesson transition times and to ensure that all pupils feel comfortable when using the facilities.
“The toilets were being used as a gathering point which was causing issues for students genuinely wanting to use the facilities. Long queues and excessive traffic in the toilet blocks was leading to slow transition times between lessons as well as after break and lunch times.
“This has been impacting upon the prompt start to lessons. If each lesson across the school year starts two minutes later than scheduled then this leads to a total of 6.4 days’ lost learning across the school year. Some pupils have been feeling uncomfortable about using the facilities when large groups of students are gathered there. This has been an issue raised by students and parents alike.”
