Best Ways to Keep Your School Clean (with Expert Advice)

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Help your school stay healthy and safe with these simple tricks

Co-authored by Kathryn Kellogg and Bertha Isabel Crombet, PhD

Last Updated: August 25, 2025 Fact Checked

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• Daily Cleaning Habits
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• Organizing a Cleaning Event
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• Benefits of Keeping Your School Clean
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• Video

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Keeping your school clean isn’t just the janitor’s job—it’s yours, too! Helping to keep your school clean means taking pride in your school’s appearance and gaining valuable experience at the same time. Keep reading to learn helpful daily cleaning tasks as well as how to organize a school-wide cleanup, with expert insights from sustainability specialist Kathryn Kellogg and professional cleaner Susan Stocker.

Keeping Your School Clean

Keeping your school clean begins with developing daily cleaning habits. Wiping your feet before you come into the classroom, throwing away any visible trash, and putting things away after you use them are all good ways to do your part. Create a "green team," encourage others to recycle, and organize a school clean-up.

Steps

Section 1 of 3:

Practicing Everyday Cleaning Habits

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   Wipe your feet on mats before you enter the school building. Dirt, pollen, and leaves can all be tracked in by students’ feet, making the floors look dirty. Help keep this from happening by wiping your feet before you come in the door. If your school doesn't have mats, lightly scuff your feet on the sidewalk before you walk inside.

   • Ask your principal about getting mats if your school doesn't have any. Offer to start a fundraiser to pay for the mats if your school doesn't have room in the budget.

   Meet the wikiHow Experts

   Kathryn Kellogg is a sustainability specialist and the founder of goingzerowaste.com, a lifestyle website dedicated to breaking eco-friendly living down into a simple step-by-step process.

   Susan Stocker is a Green Cleaning Expert and the Owner of Susan’s Green Cleaning. She's been a professional cleaner for over 10 years and has cleaned for 1000+ clients.
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   Throw any trash you see into wastebaskets. It might not seem like a big deal if a candy wrapper falls out of your pocket, but over time, trash and litter can build up to make your school seem messy. If you notice someone else drop something, pick it up and throw it away.

   • If you see a used tissue or something gross on the ground, use a napkin to pick it up so you don't have to touch it with your hands.
   • Encourage your friends to follow your example in picking up trash when they see it.
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   Recycle paper, glass, and plastic. Recycling helps reduce the amount of trash that goes into the landfill, so you’re helping the environment and keeping your school clean at the same time. If your school doesn’t participate in a recycling program, ask your teachers or your principal about starting one.

   • Kellogg suggests forming a “green team” if one doesn’t already exist. For example, host a lunch to drum up support for school cleanliness and recycling.
   • Kellogg shares that learning information like this is “very important… if we actually want recycling to work as a system.” She also recommends setting up recycling bins and printing out pictures of the most common items found in each bin “so people don't have to think about it too much.”
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   Put things away after you use them. If you get a book out of a shelf in your classroom or you use a microscope in the science lab, make sure you put it back when you’re finished using it. Leaving things lying around leads to cluttered, messy classrooms.

   • Kellogg says, "The first thing that you need is to commit to doing something. And it doesn't mean you're not going to make mistakes, but you have to be committed to what you're doing.” Even small things, like putting things away after you use them, can make a difference.
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   Make sure your lunch table is clean before you leave. Don’t leave milk cartons, balled-up napkins, or pieces of food on your table. Push in your chairs as you leave the table, and remember to check the floor to make sure you didn’t drop anything.
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   Mop up any spills right away. If you spill your drink, clean it up right away. Use paper towels or ask a teacher if there is a mop you can use to clean up your mess. This not only keeps the area pristine, but it also helps to form good, helpful habits. Your community could certainly benefit from learning to be more like you!
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   Take care not to damage displays around school. Sometimes, teachers might put dioramas, artwork, or science projects around the school to show off their students’ hard work. If you see any of these displays, take care not to bump into them or knock them over, since this can lead to a big mess.
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   Cover your face when you sneeze. When you’re sick and sniffly, coughs and sneezes are bound to happen, which is totally okay! Reduce the spread of airborne germs by covering your mouth and nose with your hand or a tissue and then washing your hands afterwards. Your friends and classmates will thank you for not getting them sick!
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   Wash your hands often. Not only is hand-washing instrumental in warding off germs, but it also keeps hands from transferring dirt, grime, or any other substance from one surface to another. You wouldn’t want to finish art class with sticky hands only to go to music class to leave glue residue on the piano. Wash your hands between classes or bring your own wipes and/or hand sanitizer.
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Section 2 of 3:

Organizing a School Cleaning Event

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1. 
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   Ask your school for permission to organize a cleaning event. Have an event at your school where a group of students, teachers, and even parents can help deep clean your school’s campus. Your event can take place over a lunch period, after school, or on a weekend.

   • Visit the office and ask the secretary if you can set up an appointment to talk to the principal about organizing an event. Make notes beforehand about some of the specific things you’d like to accomplish during the event.
   • For instance, you might say, “We’d like to have a group of students come in on a Saturday to pick up trash on the playground and wash windows in the classrooms.”
   • Before your meeting, ask teachers and students to sign a petition showing their support for the event.
   • According to Kellogg, “waste management companies in the area typically have representatives that will come out for free and do a waste audit for you and will also give presentations.”
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   Gather your cleaning supplies for everyone to use. If your school already has supplies, you may be able to borrow them for your cleaning event. Otherwise, you may need to hold a fundraiser so you can purchase the cleaning supplies you'll need. Depending on what you decide to clean, you'll need:

   • Rubber gloves
   • A bleach cleaner
   • Clothes
   • Trash bags
   • Feather dusters
   • Toilet brushes
   • Gardening supplies
   EXPERT TIP

   

   Susan Stocker

   Professional Cleaner

   Susan Stocker runs and owns Susan’s Green Cleaning, the #1 Green Cleaning Company in Seattle. She is well known in the region for outstanding customer service protocols — winning the 2017 Better Business Torch Award for Ethics & Integrity —and her energetic support of green cleaning practices.

   

   Susan Stocker
   Professional Cleaner

   Expert Hack: Try mixing a teaspoon of castille soap with a quart of deionized water in a spray bottle for an all-purpose cleaner. Deionized water is water that has had its electrically charged atoms and molecules removed; it is a powerful cleaning agent that can clean almost anything.
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   Spread the word about the event to get more volunteers. If you get permission to host your cleaning day, ask if you can put up flyers publicizing the event. You may also be able to advertise the event during an assembly or morning announcements.

   • Don’t underestimate the power of word of mouth. Ask your friends to help you find other students who are interested in signing up.
   • Try saying something like, "Hey, a few of us are getting together on Saturday to clean up around the school. We might even meet up for pizza afterwards. You should come by and help!"
4. 
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   Organize students into groups on the day of the event. Have each group be responsible for accomplishing a certain task. This will help ensure that you don’t have anyone wandering around aimlessly or cleaning something that someone else has already done.

   • For instance, have one group cleaning marker off of bathroom walls, while another group could pull weeds and rake around the outside of the school.
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   Focus on cleaning areas that are often ignored. There’s no need to spend your cleaning event doing chores that the janitor already does on a regular basis. Make the most of the day by working on things that don't get done often, like cleaning the chairs in the auditorium or dusting the tops of lockers.

   • If you like, you could ask for permission to plant some flowers around campus, like in a flower bed near the school’s entrance.
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   Practice safe cleaning practices. As you clean, make sure you carefully read and follow all of the labels on any cleaning supplies. Wear rubber gloves while you’re cleaning with chemicals like bleach.

   • To avoid getting sick, avoid touching used tissues when you empty waste baskets. Wear disposable gloves or wash your hands with soap and water after you’re finished.
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   Start a cleaning club to make this a regular event. If the event is a success, consider getting permission to start a club that cleans the school on a regular basis. You might want to meet once a week, every day at lunch, or only once a semester, depending on how much needs to be done and how often your principal will approve it.
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Section 3 of 3:

Benefits of Keeping Your School Clean

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1. 
   Cleaning up your school protects everyone's health and safety. Maintaining a clean and tidy school environment has many benefits, including a reduced spread of germs, improved mental health, increased school pride, and a strengthened sense of community. Cleaning your classroom promotes best public health practices, creates a more pleasant learning atmosphere, and encourages students to bring these good, healthy habits back home with them.

   • Well-kept classrooms are correlated to achieving learning outcomes and an overall spike in student well-being and mental health.
   • Coming up with a daily cleaning schedule where everyone can do their part helps nurture a sense of belonging and community, helping students realize they can achieve great things when they work together.
   • Regularly cleaning and disinfecting surfaces can significantly help reduce the spread of germs and improve the health of the student population as a whole.

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