Cleaning Advice!

[Guest]

i have been hauled into the head's office to be told we are not tidying up nursery properly and it's not fair on the cleaner. we have 37 children mornings only. the children tidy away the toys/dough/empty sink of toys etc, and we sweep up if there is a lot of sand, but i was told we should wipe all doh bits off table, clean up all glue drips, clean the mop if we use it (which of course we have to for h&s reasons), and clean child's mop too and empty out mop bucket and swill it too. we are also supposed to check the outside area outside incase the caretaker misses anything so if anything is found e.g. a child's metal golf club bent in half with sharp metal exposed, it is our fault..... this is a school maintained nursery. we all fel we tidy well but should not be expected to clean. how much tidying do you all do? feel really fed up

[Panders]

Hi,not in the same position as you, we hire our hall, but I wouldn't expect our cleaner to clean up glue drips etc., that's our job, tidying up is all well and good, but if you make it mucky you should clean it up. Your cleaner probably only expects to wipe over or mop surfaces and toilets, not start scrubbing off messy play stuff.

[narnia]

at my old setting, the cleaner would save up anything she found that she considered 'not her job' to clean and would bring it along to committee meetings!! I vividly recall the stunned silence when she emptied a small bag of dust onto the table....................and the chair didn't have the nerve to say............well, it's DUST, that's your job?? Hysterical really.

[Froglet]

Hi, I'm in a reception class and we certainly clean up glue drips/paint splatters on table tops etc. Dinners are served in our room and children put their book bags on tables at the end of the day so they need to be clean. If there are particularly persistent marks I ask our cleaner to have a go at it in the holidays when he has a little more time. If we've had to use the mop for anything other than paint/water spills I mention it to him at the end of the day as he can use cleaning materials that I can't when the children are around.

[Guest]

I would be horrified if called into the Heads office regarding cleaning if only because our school cleaners are lazy and rubbish!!

 

I would not willingly do anything to make their very poor job easier!

 

We clean everything at the end of morning session ready for lunch and then it's cleaned again before the afternoon session starts.

I don't clean to the same level at end of afternoon when cleaners are due in.

[Guest LornaW]

Hmm! interesting this one as you say you do your very best to clean up could it be the cleaner feels unappreciated! I also have a feeling at the back fo my mind (and without going off to check and not 100%) that a nursery classroom should be cleaned at the end of the morning as well as at the end of the day if it is sessional so the school should be employing a cleaner to do this. Very often the NN would have this as part of the role at the end of the morning and be paid accordingly.

 

I have some sympathy with your post Scarlettangel but to start with I would take the pragmatic approach, my son would call the the passive aggressive! and say to the HT of course you will make every effort to make the nursery tidy at the end of the sessions and continue to do as you do but also buy the cleaner a bunch of flowers, box of chocs or similar and then at the end of each day make sure you tell the cleaner how much you have tidied up, swept the floor, cleaned the mop etc.

 

We do have a responsibility to teach children to value our environment and it sounds as if you are doing this by getting them to tidy up but it is not their duty to clean. There are definate H&S regulations to cleaning and a nursery should be done daily.

 

Good Luck!

[JacquieL]

I would agree with your HT I'm afraid if you are leaving the days 'mess' for your cleaner to clean up. I would expect the children to have a good go but then would make sure that the room was left in a reasonably clean condition, sweeping sand, wiping tables clean, brushing up bits and pieces. I would also do the same at the end of the morning. Cleaners only have a small amount of time to do the basic cleaning which is their role, such as floors, disinfecting tables with a quick wipe, cleaning the toilets, but cleaning up properly after the children's daily activities is the staff's role. It is one of those things that is something that EY's staff have to do, just another thing on the 'jack of all trades 'list. I would also expect nursery/reception staff to check on the outside area. We have always had an outdoor daily risk assessment/check list and the check is done by a member of staff before each session. The caretaker may also do a daily check but they have limited time and the rest of the school to think about as well.

Times like Christmas can be very fraught for cleaners with all the glitter around, but if you keep a good relationship with them and leave them able to do their job for the rest of the year, I have found that they can be very supportive and patient.

[Guest]

I would be horrified if called into the Heads office regarding cleaning if only because our school cleaners are lazy and rubbish!!

 

I would not willingly do anything to make their very poor job easier!

 

We clean everything at the end of morning session ready for lunch and then it's cleaned again before the afternoon session starts.

I don't clean to the same level at end of afternoon when cleaners are due in.

 

oh dear i can't believe people have time to clean to this level. when do you do your learning journals etc? we are only a morning nursery but i never leave before half 1 and feel doing cleaning either takes away from being with the children or takes time after when we have so much paperwork. our little ones are our priority. thankyou scarlettangel. our caretaker stands chatting for 2 hours each morning, which would be plenty of time to check outside i believe. i have never had to do all these things at any other school

[Fredbear]

Hi well we are a sessional setting in a rented hall, all areas are checked each morning and cleared, tidied if necessary. If it was in a dreadful state it would still have to be cleaned ready for our use and then reported to our Parish Clerk. As for paint pots, wiping tables, floors etc this is expected of the whole team throughout the morning/ afternoon sessions and yes we have 68 journals to do too. Definitely wouldn't expect any cleaner to do these things. We have made the mess, up to us to clear it up.

[fimbo]

we try and minimise mess if we can, lots of newspapers on the tables -all gets screwed up when finished and binned. we also try to teach our children to try and be as tidy as possible (blimey....that sounds awful doesnt it lol !!) - meaning, if they drip glue or paint on the floor, or chair etc -we encourage them to clean it up, they have now realised they can have a great time without spreading it everywhere! we do spot clean areas where we have made a mess tho -as it could be a H+S issue if we didnt.

we also do an outside check as part of our pre session risk assesment.

im afraid we do most of what you are being asked to do (sorry) but we dont have a cleaner -so if we dont do it, it doesnt get cleaned.

[redjayne]

we have a cleaner - and that is what she does - clean, the staff have to make sure the tables etc are all wiped down - every item of equipment is picked up ( or it will disappear up the hoover!) and any 'extra' mess like sand or cornflour etc made during the day is cleaned up before she arrives. The cleaner shouldn't be expected to tidy or clear away after the staff and the staff are expected to set a good example to the children but tidying as they go. She will not do things like pick playdough out of the carpet - as the staff are supposed to be supervising and it isn't meant to be trodden into the carpet, they get the pleasure of cleaning it up. :1b

[Guest]

I too have been pulled up on levels of cleaning! I suppose I did see it from the caretaker and cleaners point of view and have got better at tidying up! Obviously the children have been trained to tidy up and at this time of year are pretty good. But in the early days its hard work when there are only two members of staff trying to get 26 children to tidy. Things get taken everywhere and it takes time to put everything back it its place. Joys of Nursery - cleaner, tidy upper, nappy changer, toilet trainer, admin officer, home school link worker, educator and the list goes on!!!

[Guest]

I read this thread again this morning and want to say that in years gone by our school cleaners were fabulous and I would have done ALL I could to lighten their work load.

However that is not the case right now and the laziness is endemic and no one does anything about the poor job they do and the endless chats and breaks they take.

 

I don't believe I should spend my own time doing their job to make it easier for them!

 

Oh it makes me very cross!!

[Guest]

: )

[redjayne]

But on the other side Scarlett your cleaner probably has an allocated time to do your areas - mine has 1.5 hours and that includes two bathrooms as well as two playrooms , cloakroom, baby sleep room, foyer , staffroom and office - if she is having to do 'extra' stuff like scrub tables and pick stuff up , that's time out of her normal routine . If she runs over time who pays for that ? It comes out of the schools budget and means less money for other things.

[JacquieL]

Perhaps the answer is to find out what her job description is and how long she has been given, which is not usually enough time in my experience, and go on from there. At least you will both understand who does what then. I know that some schools now employ contract cleaners, whereas in the 'good old days' the school employed the cleaner and they had some loyalty to the school, especially if they were parents employed in this role. Some caretakers are only employed at the beginning and end of the day, and sometimes they are on the premises outside of their working hours, so might look to be time wasting having a cuppa outside.

[calicojo]

You should think yourself lucky to have a cleaner! We're in a village hall so have to put everything out and clear everything away, as well as clean the hall, toilets etc (there is a cleaner but she only does it on Saturday so not much use to us) and sometimes clean in the morning if the previous users haven't done their bit....

 

Phew! rant over...

 

Jo

[SueFinanceManager]

I wasn't in a school but private setting so we the staff did the cleaning and as such you get good at doing stuff as you go along and minimising mess....we had an old shower curtain we used to use on the tables which was good as we could wash it down easily or even chuck in the washing machine if necessary. Always used lots of newspaper on tables and under easels etc.

 

Our children were good at tidying up too....we putt out small dustpans and brushes in the messy room.

 

As we used tables for snack time we too had to make sure they were cleaned properly.

 

It was a chore sometimes but we just worked it into the session and it was always rotated so the same person didn't do it all the time......sometimes it was quite nice doing the cleaning and preparing the tables for snack instead of managing a noisy bunch of little people

[Guest]

this just seems to be this school as there has never been a problem before and i leave class the same here as there. the cleaner is always on her mobile and has 2 and a half hours to do nursery and a corridor, that's a lot of time and other staff who pop in to borrow things say she is sat with caretaker chatting a lot. so i don't think time is the issue, but scarlettangel is indeed correct, laziness is the problem. we have complained to the head about levels of cleaning last year, e.g. 3 of our 5 tables not being cleaned at all in weeks, but nothing has changed and now we seem to be to blame. when relief cleaners cover for her the class looks lovely, and we all notice. my last cleaner did voluntary in the class and loved it and said the more mess, the better the day thed'd had!! how child friendly