Back To School Cleaning Checklist

The importance of cleaning in a school

When a new school term begins, every pupil and member of staff is there to make a fresh start at the same time, in the same place. Returning to a hygienically clean, well-maintained school building, both as a perception and a reality, is integral to that universal ‘fresh start’ experience. It’s an experience that is created well before the start of the academic year.

There are 3 major reasons for a back to school cleaning strategy:

First, to maximise the best look and feel of the building. When a school is in visibly good condition, it enhances the experience of pupils, staff and visitors alike; it remains a space for productivity and enjoyment.
Second, thorough cleaning in school helps to maintain the lifecycle of the school’s physical assets. For example, a hard floor in a hall or corridor that is regularly cleaned, polished and re-sealed is better protected and preserved in the long run.
Hygiene is the third driver of a cleaning strategy. In the education sector, continuous, uninterrupted learning is critical. When pupils or staff are absent through sickness, learning is disrupted, and this can directly impact results. A report by the Department of Education noted that 78.7% of students with no recorded absences achieved at least 5 GCSE passes. However, among students with 5-10 reported absences, pass rates fell to 52.8%. With COVID-19 here to stay, the threat of lost learning through sickness absence is larger than ever. Therefore a thorough deep clean of school premises before term begins is essential.

An additional benefit of back to school cleaning is that it restores the buildings to the required cleaning standard, so that the regular cleaning can maintain it as far as possible throughout the school year.

Back to school cleaning checklist

The first step to a truly effective back to school clean is to identify the highest priority areas to be cleaned. What are they, and why are they important? Our school cleaning checklist will tell you all you need to know:

Floor

Cleaning and renovating the floors each year makes arguably the most instantly noticeable difference to the look and feel of the school.

Main thoroughfares, e.g. entrance halls and corridors: during the school vacation, arrange for hard floors to be scrubbed and buffed – or stripped and re-sealed if appropriate. This gives central areas a striking appearance that can help set the tone for the new term ahead.
The standard of other hard floors including tiles and laminate may be the first thing people notice on entering a room. Whilst sweeping and mopping is appropriate day-to-day, use a scrubbing machine for a deeper, more visible clean that inspires hygiene confidence – particularly in areas like labs, food tech rooms and washrooms.
Carpets are a breeding ground for dirt, grease and even chewing gum – even with regular vacuuming, they can become unsightly and unhygienic. This is why the right equipment and chemicals are essential for deeply cleansing a carpet’s pile, leaving it fresher and longer lasting. As well as classrooms, don’t forget carpets in non-teaching areas like staff rooms and admin offices to enhance staff welfare here too.

Walls and windows

Walls can be marred throughout the school year from finger marks, graffiti, or scrapes from furniture. Cleaning the walls will require time and attention to detail, so the school vacation is the ideal time to invest in this. Don’t forget high level cobwebs. If left unmaintained, walls can give the school building a shabby, tired appearance over time.

A regime for cleaning windows (inside and out) is essential, especially for finger marks. Daylight will naturally expose neglected windows more than any other area. As with walls, it’s important to maintain a fresh, bright feel to the school.

Washrooms

Toilet areas are inevitably of central importance to school hygiene. What’s less obvious is the effect that perceived as well as actual cleanliness has on pupil confidence. According to a global survey by Unilever, 90% of school children who took part said they had been affected emotionally or physically by the state of their school toilets. 30% admitted to poor concentration in class because of avoiding using the toilets, and 12% said they wouldn’t eat or drink at school for that reason.

With washroom hygiene so strongly linked to productivity in schools, it pays to invest in especially thorough cleaning before the start of term:

Include difficult-to-reach parts of toilets or sinks in the overall clean.
Wipe walls/tiling and cubicle doors.
Don’t just mop the floors as usual; use a small scrubbing machine to bring them back up to standard.
De-scale toilets and sinks.
Remove chewing gum and (where possible) graffiti.
Remember to clean high level areas like windowsills or light fittings where dust and germs can gather over time.

Recreational equipment

Equipment items in the sports halls, gym or playground are obviously major touchpoints. Since there may not always be time to clean them completely as part of the daily school cleaning checklist, deep cleans (often known as periodic cleans) are a must. Clean and sanitise recreational equipment thoroughly, attending to body fat deposits and grime to bring the equipment back up to standard.

Exterior cleaning

Some ideas to keep school grounds pleasant and hygienic include:

Scrubbing machines can make a dramatic improvement to footpaths that have dulled in colour over time, making them look bright and new again.
Cleanse benches and other seating areas of dirt, gum or graffiti as far as possible.
Thoroughly clean and disinfect bins inside and out. These are bacteria hotspots, especially if touched when used.
Litter pick the grounds.

Interior lighting

As mentioned earlier, light fittings are notorious for gathering dust over time: arrange for high-level cleaning at least once a year. Also, light switches are major touchpoints and should be included in the daily school cleaning checklist.

Benefits of using a contracted cleaning company to clean your school

We have seen how quality cleaning services are central to the school experience, and directly linked to productivity and results. These services are also highly complex and demanding, and best outsourced to the experts, leaving school staff free to focus on what they do best. To keep a school environment in optimal condition, a commercial cleaning provider can take ownership of these essential tasks:

Drawing on a broad pool of combined expertise and resources in educational cleaning, to deliver best practice in a school consistently over the longer term.
Recruiting, managing and retaining quality cleaning staff in a sector where this can be a challenge. This includes absence cover.
Delivering industry-standard training to build truly effective cleaning teams.
Fulfilling health, safety, welfare and all other forms of critical compliance, such as chemical usage, PPE, risk assessments and more.
Offering a genuinely sustainable cleaning service, with a commitment to staff welfare. Demonstrating a strategy for Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) is a must in today’s market.

Depending on the contract, periodic cleaning is either scheduled for the summer holidays, or spread over the various holiday periods throughout the school year. A school should work with its cleaning provider to build the schedule that best suits the school’s calendar and its site-specific needs.

From the outset, a school cleaning contract should be clear about which deep cleaning tasks are included in the overall cost, along with equipment and materials, and stripping/re-sealing of hard floors. There may be extra charges for certain specialist or unexpected tasks that may involve extra machinery or outsourced skills.