Primary schools are important places for youngsters around the country, being the venue where they will gain a firm grounding for their education and the rest of their lives. For this reason, making sure they have somewhere to learn and work that is conducive to learning and hygienic is absolutely crucial at all times.
Not only does tidiness and cleanliness reduce the risk of children getting sick, but studies have shown that classrooms that are well maintained and always cleaned to a higher standard aid concentration and make kids want to learn, whereas a messy and dirty environment encourages laziness and can lead to children not wanting to even be there. So what are the secrets to making sure that schools are perfect for teaching and learning in?
Prevention is better than rectification
Making sure that the general clutter and mess of a day in school is kept to a minimum and managed through the day can be better than having to leave yourself and cleaning contractors with large tasks to handle at the end of each day when the children go home.
One step you can employ on a permanent basis is to encourage recycling. Try writing up some colourful signs and posters to show pupils the benefits of recycling and provide boxes for them to use at a specified area of the classroom to encourage them to do so.
This will make sure that the area is never becoming cluttered, as it will eventually become second nature for the kids to put their rubbish in the correct bin, keeping the class clean and conducive to learning.
There are other things that can be less regular and even more risky to the cleanliness of the class though – art lessons, for example, can be tricky to deal with if you are teaching young school kids.
You could try putting down newspaper on all the desks to stop them being damaged and stained by the likes of PVA glue and paint, while sheets on the floors through art lessons will make sure that rooms are less at risk of becoming dirty, leaving large cleaning jobs to be contended with when all you want at the end of a hard working day is to go home.
Stain removal needs to be safe
In some cases, prevention will not be enough, and a cleaning job will be required to make sure that the room is returned to its previously-sparkling state. Paint stains are among the hardest to deal with, but there are ways to get rid of these.
Because most school paint will be water based, it should be easier than in other environments to deal with. Start by scraping as much of the dried stain away as possible before you get the products out. Use a hard-bristled brush to get rid of the majority of the dried-in stain.
From there, you will want to use a wet cloth to moisten the area. Keeping water-based paint wet increases the chances of getting it out. Afterwards, you will want to apply soapy water or an eco-friendly paint remover to reduce the stain.
Once it is dry, you can then try to scrape off any remaining paint and repeat the above steps until the job is complete and the stain is gone. For larger spills, the paint should be contained and soaked in soapy water, with paper towels used to soak up the water and draw the paint out.
Another issue classrooms can be plagued with is muddy feet, with kids likely to have been out playing at lunch time, they will pay little attention to their shoes and can bring mud into the room, making the carpet dirty.
This can be dealt with reasonably easy. A standard baking soda can be used to pour onto the stains, before being vacuumed up after a while. This should be done when the mud has dried, because doing it when it’s wet will only make the stain worse.
Keeping the classroom clean and tidy, especially when dealing with primary school aged kids, can be a tough task, but for those who dedicate their time to doing so, a rewarding environment perfect for learning will be discovered at the end of the road.