Surviving cold and flu season: 9 easy ways for computing teachers to stay well
Surviving cold and flu season: 9 easy ways for computing teachers to stay well
January in school can feel like someone turned the germ dial up to maximum. Students have been travelling, routines are back with a bang and suddenly every other sentence is followed by a cough.
Computing teachers have a bonus challenge. Shared keyboards, mice and headphones.
This post is about staying well in cold and flu season without adding more to your plate. No diet plans. No lectures about exercise. Just practical, low effort habits that reduce your chances of picking up bugs and help you cope if you feel something coming on.
It’s worth taking seriously this year too. NHS England has reported a recent surge in flu hospitalisations in England and the World Health Organization has reported rising seasonal influenza activity globally since October 2025.
Because so much of our subject involves shared kit, tiny routines matter. A tissue box in the right place, a quick wipe of the high touch bits and sanitiser where hands actually go. None of it is glamorous, but it adds up fast over a week of lessons.
1) Classroom tissues and bin placement (make tissues impossible to ignore)
Put a box of tissues somewhere students can reach without asking you. If they have to cross the room or interrupt you, they’ll wipe their noses on their sleeves instead.
If you can, add a small bin right next to the tissues. This combination matters.
A few tissue and bin placements that work in real classrooms:
By the door so it’s the first thing they see when they walk in
On a central table they can reach without weaving between chairs
Near the “spares” area where they already go for equipment such as pens, scissors or anything else they help themselves to.
If you’ve got a bigger room, one at the front and one halfway down so nobody has an excuse to trek across the room
2) Two minute classroom cleaning routine for high touch surfaces
You don’t need to disinfect the whole computing room. Just focus on the surfaces that get touched constantly because they’re the ones that quietly pass germs around all day.
Start with the door handle and the door edge. Everyone touches it. Often with sleeves, wet hands or whatever they’ve been holding.
The light switch is another one that gets tapped without thinking, especially in winter when mornings are darker.
Next, do your own kit. Your keyboard and mouse are basically your classroom control centre. They get used when you’re tired, rushing or eating lunch at your desk. A quick wipe takes seconds and stops you touching the same germs every time you log on.
Then look at the shared bits that move from hand to hand, especially keyboards, mice and headphones. Keep a pack of anti-bacterial wipes nearby and do a fast sweep after a busy lesson. You can also ask a reliable student to help as part of tidy up.
Finally, don’t forget desk phones and remotes if you have them. They’re the kind of thing people grab quickly, put down again and never think to clean.
You don’t need a deep clean. A quick wipe at the start of the day, after your computer room has been used by another teacher or after a lesson where lots of equipment was shared is enough to make a difference.
3) Hand sanitiser placement that actually gets used
If hand sanitiser is at the back of the room, it won’t get used. Put it where hands already go in a computing classroom, not where you wish they’d go.
By the door works best for entry and exit. Students see it as they walk in and it becomes part of the flow, not an extra job. If you can only have one bottle, make it that one.
Keep one on your desk for you too. Not because you’re being precious, but because you touch everything: keyboard, mouse, pens, the clicker and the pile of worksheets you just collected. Having it within reach means you’ll actually use it without thinking.
If you’ve got shared computing equipment, put sanitiser right next to it. When students grab headphones, rulers or scissors, the sanitiser is already there as a quick prompt. It turns into a simple habit rather than a reminder you have to repeat all lesson.
4) Stop sharing pens to reduce classroom germs
It sounds petty until you’ve watched a pen go from mouth to hand to your desk. Suddenly it’s not petty, it’s survival.
Keep a pot of loan pens the students can borrow. When they return them they go in a second “Used Pens” pot, without you touching them.
Then, when you’ve got a quiet minute, wipe them down and move them back to the clean pot. It’s quick, it’s simple and it means you’re not doing it in front of a class while trying to teach.
If you want to make it even easier, pick pens that are easy to wipe. Smooth plastic is better than anything with grips and grooves that collect everything.
5) Classroom ventilation in winter without freezing everyone
You don’t need the windows wide open all day in January. Small changes help and they’re much more realistic to stick with.
Try opening a window for five minutes at break or lunch. It’s long enough to refresh the air, but short enough that the room doesn’t turn into an ice box. If you’ve got a routine moment where students are out anyway, it’s an easy habit to attach it to.
If the room gets stuffy, crack a window during independent work. That’s usually the quietest part of the lesson, so you can do it without disrupting your flow. It also helps when you’ve got a full class and lots of computers running.
If you can, keep the door open between lessons to refresh the air. Even a couple of minutes while one class leaves and the next arrives can make the room feel less stale.
It’s about reducing the build-up of stale air without freezing everyone.
6) Wearing a mask when you have symptoms (classroom practicalities)
This isn’t a forever thing and it doesn’t need to be political. It’s just a practical tool for the days you have to be in school but you’re clearly sniffly or coughing.
The WHO has urged people to curb transmission by staying home if unwell and wearing a mask in public if they have respiratory symptoms. In a classroom, that can look like keeping a mask in your drawer for those days when you can’t avoid being in, but you want to reduce the chances of passing something on.
If you do use one, keep it simple. Put it on for close contact moments like circulating during a test, helping at a student’s screen or speaking to a line of students at your desk. Then take it off when you’re teaching from the front and you’ve got a bit more space.
It’s not about making a statement. It’s about getting through the day while being considerate to the people around you.
7) Teacher desk drawer illness kit for cold and flu season
This isn’t about buying loads of stuff. It’s about having a few things that make the day manageable if you feel rough and can feel a cold coming on. Think of it as a tiny emergency kit that saves you from doing the whole day on hard mode.
Computing teacher illness kit:
Tissues
Alcohol hand gel
Disinfectant wipes or spray (whatever your school allows)
Throat lozenges
Paracetamol or ibuprofen (only if you personally use them and it’s safe for you)
A spare mask for playground duty or close-contact moments
A small bottle of water or squash
A snack that won’t melt or crumble everywhere
If you’re thinking “I’ll just cope”, remember the goal isn’t to be heroic. The goal is to get through the day without making yourself worse.
8) If you feel a cold coming on: three quick steps for teachers
This is the quick triage that helps most people. It’s simple, it’s realistic and it works even when you’re running on fumes.
Hydrate early: Don’t wait until you’ve got a headache. Take a few proper sips before first period, then keep your bottle where you can reach it without breaking your flow. If you know you forget, link it to something you already do, like taking a drink while the register loads or while students are settling.
Lower your voice: When you feel rough, your voice goes first. Keep instructions short, put the key steps on the board and lean on written prompts more than you normally would. Independent work is your friend here. You’re not lowering expectations, you’re lowering the amount of talking you must do to get the same outcome.
Reduce close contact help: If you’re sniffly or coughing, you don’t need to be leaning over screens all lesson. Model on the board, narrate what you’re doing and let students try it. When they get stuck, get them to bring their question to you or have them show you their work from a distance. You can also give feedback from your desk with a quick check in rather than hovering.
It’s not laziness. It’s pacing.
9) Plug and play computing cover lessons for sick days
The biggest stress when you’re ill isn’t always the illness. It’s the cover work. The planning, the printing, the worry that the class will go off the rails and the guilt that you should be doing more when you should be resting.
If you can, keep one or two plug and play cover lessons ready that can be used for a multitude of classes. They do not have to be perfect OFSTED ready lessons and they should not be something that requires specialist knowledge to explain it. Just a solid backup that buys you time.
Choose something that keeps students busy without chaos so you’re not coming back to behaviour fallout on top of feeling rough.
If you’re the kind of teacher who ends up writing cover work from bed, I’ve made a set of ready to use computing cover lessons designed for exactly those days. They’re there as a safety net, not a guilt trip. If you ever need them, you’ll know where to find them.
One last thing
If you’re constantly catching everything, it doesn’t mean you’re doing teaching wrong. It means you’re in a job where you’re exposed to a lot of people all day, every day.
Pick one or two ideas from this list and make them automatic. Attach them to moments that already happen, like students arriving, break time or the end of a practical lesson. Tiny habits done consistently beat big plans you’ll never have time for.
FAQs
How can I get pupils to use hand sanitiser without turning it into a battle?
Make it part of the routine, not a rule you have to repeat. Put sanitiser by the door so it happens as they enter, then move on with the lesson. If you’ve got shared kit, keep a bottle next to it as a quiet prompt.
What are the highest risk shared items in a computing classroom?
Keyboards, mice and headphones are the main ones because they’re handled constantly and students touch their faces without thinking. Add in the teacher keyboard and mouse, the door handle and any shared equipment like Micro:Bits or scissors.
Do I need to sanitise student’s keyboards after every lesson?
No. Do what you can. If you try to wipe every keyboard after every class you’ll give up by Wednesday. A realistic baseline is wiping mice once a day and focusing on the high touch bits like the teacher keyboard and mouse, door handle and shared headphones. Encouraging pupils to use hand sanitiser on the way in and out will also drastically reduce germs.
What’s the simplest classroom hygiene routine I can actually stick to in January?
Pick one anchor moment and keep it tiny. For example, wipe your desk setup and the door handle first thing in the morning, crack a window for five minutes at break and keep tissues and a bin where pupils can reach them without asking. Consistency beats a perfect routine you never have time for.
