Hygiene

To nurture the skills of resilience is key to providing young people with the ability to cope with stress, adversity, failure and challenges. Resilience is evident when young people have a greater ability to ‘bounce back’ when faced with difficulties and achieve positive outcomes.

Resilience empowers the individual to recognise issues caused by poor personal hygiene and take personal responsibility to ensure good hygiene routines are followed and adhered to.

Learning about personal hygiene is included in the newly statutory area of Health Education (insert link Relationships Education, Relationships and Sex Education and Health Education guidance (publishing.service.gov.uk). Children and young people should learn about this at both primary and secondary levels. In the wake of the Covid pandemic, children and adults in schools have a heightened awareness of personal issues and this might provide a positive springboard for improved understanding of and approaches to building long lasting, preventative behaviours relating to personal hygiene.

Hygiene also plays an important role in tackling antimicrobial resistance (AMR), one of the most significant global public health challenges. AMR is sometimes known as drug resistance.

The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) describes AMR as a growing threat that requires action across society to reduce infections, use medicines responsibly, and protect the effectiveness of treatments for future generations.

Globally, antimicrobial resistance was directly responsible for an estimated 1.27 million deaths in 2019, and continues to place increasing pressure on health systems worldwide. Without effective action, common infections and routine medical procedures could become more difficult to treat.

Education is a key part of the solution. The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) and its e-Bug programme provide resources that help children and young people understand:

  • What germs are and how infections spread.
  • The importance of handwashing and everyday hygiene.
  • How vaccinations help protect health.
  • Why antibiotics do not treat viral infections.
  • How reducing the spread of infection helps protect antibiotics and other medicines for the future.

By developing good hygiene habits from an early age, schools can help reduce illness, improve attendance, support wellbeing, and contribute to the wider effort to combat antimicrobial resistance.

Further reading: UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) guidance on antimicrobial resistance: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/antimicrobial-resistance-amr-capabilities-at-ukhsa

Personal hygiene is most effectively taught as part of a planned, age-appropriate PSHE curriculum that develops knowledge and skills over time. Learning about hygiene should be reinforced through wider PSHE themes, including healthy lifestyles, self-awareness, emotional wellbeing, and personal responsibility.

Schools should:

  • Deliver regular, age-appropriate learning about personal hygiene and health.
  • Promote consistent hygiene messages across the school environment.
  • Ensure staff model and encourage good hygiene practices.
  • Provide accessible, well-maintained hygiene facilities.
  • Gather pupil feedback to understand barriers and identify improvements.

Partnership working with families is also important. Schools should:

  • Support parents and carers with information and guidance from an early age.
  • Work collaboratively with families where hygiene concerns are identified.
  • Access family support services or family worker interventions where available and appropriate.

By combining education, a supportive school environment, and strong home-school partnerships, schools can help children and young people develop lifelong hygiene habits that support their health, wellbeing, and learning.

  • Ensure opportunities are found in the curriculum to teach the importance of maintaining good personal hygiene.
  • Offer information, advice and support to children, young people and families about general health and development, and how to access these services.
  • Display notices in the toilets reminding children and young people to wash their hands after they have used the facilities.
  • Have supplies available in school to assist children/young people with their personal hygiene and arrange for these to be available in a discreet manner (e.g. sanitary wear, soap, toothbrush and tooth paste, spare uniform).
  • Identify and link with local relevant partners to promote good personal hygiene.
  • Supervise young children to ensure they wash their hands for 20 seconds more often than usual with soap and water or hand sanitiser and catch coughs and sneezes in tissues.
  • In secondary school good personal hygiene could be linked to Puberty lessons.

Addressing personal hygiene concerns can be sensitive for pupils, families, and staff, and there are no specific national guidelines on how schools should approach these conversations. Schools may find this resource helpful: Top Tips for TAs: Discussing Personal Hygiene (Twinkl).

The appropriate response will depend on the child’s age, stage of development, and the nature of the concern. Schools should:

  • Approach concerns sensitively and respectfully.
  • Work in partnership with parents and carers, particularly in primary schools where responsibility for personal hygiene largely rests with adults.
  • Seek to understand any underlying circumstances that may be affecting a family’s ability to support good hygiene.
  • Encourage age-appropriate personal responsibility as children grow, linking discussions to learning about health, puberty, and wellbeing.
  • Follow safeguarding procedures and consult the designated safeguarding lead if there are concerns about persistent neglect or a child’s welfare.

A supportive, non-judgemental approach can help ensure hygiene concerns are addressed while maintaining positive relationships with pupils and families.

  • about personal hygiene and germs including bacteria, viruses, how they are spread and treated, and the importance of handwashing.

Source: Relationships Education RSE and Health Education (DfE)  Relationships Education, Relationships and Sex Education and Health Education guidance (publishing.service.gov.uk)

  • about personal hygiene, germs including bacteria, viruses, how they are spread, treatment and prevention of infection, and about antibiotics.

Source: Relationships Education RSE and Health Education (DfE)  Relationships Education, Relationships and Sex Education and Health Education guidance (publishing.service.gov.uk)

Resources

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