One of the skills required of the itinerant pedagogue, as we flit from school to school like a will-o’-the-wisp in elbow patches, is being able to adapt to the specific rules of a new institution.

Most school rules are roughly the same wherever you are: no running in the corridors, be respectful to others, keep mobile phones/food/hard liquor outside the classroom and so on.

One rule that’s consistent is the ”no lesson time visits to the loo” rule. I can see the underlying reason for this, of course, as you don’t want students popping in and out of the lessons at will, but it can also feel like the worst kind of tyrannical control.

Preventing another person from going to the toilet must be against some sort of basic human rights charter. It might be a cheap trick to gain favour, but wherever I’m teaching I’ll always allow kids to go if they ask. It’s also worth remembering that when kids ask to be excused to go to the loo, it’s not necessarily because they need a wee.

Here then, are the other reasons why any little cherub puts their hand in the air with a pained expression on their face:

To make a call

We all know that some kids have terrible home lives with carers who aren’t willing or able to care for them. It might fall to the child to sort out family problems, be it an alcoholic or depressed parent, a sibling being bullied, or maybe just arranging someone to come and fix the boiler. These may be things that really can’t wait until you’ve finished telling them how an oxbow lake is formed. If they don’t nip to the loo to make a call, the consequences will be far worse than the detention you’re threatening.

Avoidance

It took me a while to notice this, but some students regularly use the toilet request because they know something unpleasant is coming if they stay in the classroom. It might be when the homework is being collected, or when you’ve sprung a surprise test, or because it’s group work time and a student might be anxious about having no one to work with.

To grab a bite to eat

Yes, of course, they should have had something at break or lunch, but have you ever been to the school canteen? They’re not places designed to be especially customer-focused. Only two tills that work, the entire school descending on the services all at once, queue position determined by a brutal hierarchy based on age and body mass, and even if they do get served in the tiny window of time available, the food pretty much all sucks. It’s hard to concentrate when you’re hungry; a quick trip to the loo during lesson time for a bag of Frazzles and an ice-pop and they’re back in the game.

To cry

School’s tough, and finding a quiet space to let it all out can be cathartic. The classroom is not the best place to reveal your more vulnerable side, because although there’ll always be a few kids who’ll throw a comforting arm around an upset friend, there are also the ones who will point, laugh and call them a wuss (although that’s probably not the word they’ll use). It’s easier to weep in the privacy of the toilet cubicle and return to class emotionally cleansed and ready to learn.

NB: this may be more relevant for the teachers than the kids.

To keep an appointment

Occasionally kids will arrange to meet up in the toilets during lessons. This happens infrequently because it involves a certain amount of forward planning, and most kids barely know what they’re going to do next second, let alone later that day. They’re more likely to get a text during a lesson from a friend who’s already managed to make their escape. Then it’s all a bit like secret agents rendezvousing at a bench on the banks of the Volga. Hard to resist that kind of excitement.

To get out of the room for a few moments

We all need to step away from challenging situations now and then. Maybe another student is constantly flicking their ears, maybe it’s the continual sniffing of the kid behind who doesn’t know how to use a tissue, maybe the cloying smell of fart mixed with Lynx Africa is making them feel nauseous. Standing up and shouting: “dear god, I just need five minutes away from these morons” is unlikely to work. A trip to the toilets may be a good solution.

None of these feel unreasonable (okay, maybe number 5), and if we want kids to behave like adults then it’s only fair we try and treat them like adults.

And in all honesty, the kids who abuse the loo request are generally the ones whose brief absence benefits everyone else. Let them pee, I say!

The writer has recently taken up supply teaching after 20 years in a full-time teaching job.