School Cleaning & Janitorial Services in Ontario
Fewer sick days, sharper focus, a building that smells clean when parents walk in — that's what good school cleaning quietly buys you. Bluestone Janitorial looks after elementary, secondary and post-secondary schools right across Durham Region and the east GTA: Pickering, Ajax, Whitby, Oshawa and Clarington first, then Scarborough, North York, Toronto and the west end. Child-safe products, structured schedules, and the reliability you'd want for your own kid's classroom.
- WSIB clearance
- Commercial liability insurance
- Police-checked staff
WSIB clearance and certificate of insurance available on request. Ask with your quote
WSIB
Clearance on File
100%
Child-Safe Products
15+
Years School Experience
Day & Night
Porter & Night Cleaning
Standards & Compliance
What We Cover
School Cleaning Services That Protect Students and Staff
Night Cleaning
Day Porter
Periodic and Project Work
How School Cleaning Is Scheduled Around the Academic Year
A school does not clean on a flat weekly rhythm, and a contract that pretends otherwise fails twice a year. The daily programme during term runs after dismissal: classrooms, corridors, washrooms, the gym and the cafeteria reset overnight so the building is ready for the first bell. Around that sit the periodic layers: strip and wax and carpet cleaning over the scheduled breaks and the summer, when the building is empty.
The summer break is when the floor work happens. Hard floors are stripped and waxed and carpets are cleaned while the building is empty, so the finish has time to cure before students return. It is quoted as its own project, separate from the term-time rate.
Term-time frequency also flexes. Respiratory season, a norovirus case in one classroom, or an outbreak advisory changes the touchpoint list and the frequency for a defined period, then it returns to baseline. That gets written into the contract as a named response rather than negotiated in the middle of an incident.
- Daily after-dismissal cleaning for classrooms, corridors and washrooms
- Gymnasium and cafeteria floors on their own cycle
- Deeper reset scheduled over each academic break
- Summer and break floor work: strip and wax, carpet cleaning
- Defined outbreak-response frequency written into the contract
Classroom, Washroom, Gym and Cafeteria — Different Rooms, Different Rules
Classroom cleaning is touchpoint-led: desks and chair backs, door hardware on both sides, light switches, shared computers and keyboards, pencil sharpeners and supply cabinets, sinks in the primary rooms. Products are child-safe and Health Canada-approved, applied and left to dwell after the room is empty so no student is in the space while a surface is wet.
Washrooms in a school take more traffic per fixture than almost any commercial building, and they are the single biggest driver of parent and staff complaints. They are cleaned and restocked daily with disinfection of fixtures, partitions, dispensers and door hardware, and descaled on a periodic cycle rather than only when a problem is visible.
Gymnasiums and cafeterias each have a specific failure mode. Gym floors need the right treatment for their finish, and mats, equipment and change-room surfaces need disinfection on a schedule that keeps up with use. Cafeterias are food-service spaces: tables and seating between sittings, floors degreased rather than just mopped, and waste handled so nothing is left overnight.
Every crew member on a school site is police-checked, and cleaning is logged so a principal or facility coordinator can see what was done and when without having to ask.
School Cleaning in Durham Region
Durham's public schools are run by the Durham District School Board and the Durham Catholic District School Board, and the region also has French-language boards, private and independent schools, and post-secondary campuses such as Ontario Tech University and Durham College in Oshawa. Boards often employ their own custodial staff, so outside cleaners are most often brought in by private schools, by schools for summer and break projects, and for extra cover during outbreaks.
We work with the school's own custodial plan where there is one, taking the areas or periods the school assigns to us.
Public Health, Outbreaks and Products in Ontario Schools
Schools in Durham receive infection-prevention guidance from the Durham Region Health Department, the local public health unit. When there is an outbreak, the school's plan may call for more frequent cleaning of washrooms and high-touch surfaces for a set period. We write an outbreak frequency into the contract so it can start without renegotiation.
Disinfectants carry a Health Canada DIN and are applied after students leave, at the label contact time. Products are handled under WHMIS 2015, and safety data sheets are provided to the school for review.
- Works alongside the school's own custodial plan
- Outbreak frequency written into the contract
- Health Canada DIN disinfectants, applied after dismissal
- Safety data sheets supplied for review
What Affects the Price of School Cleaning
School cleaning is priced on the number and type of rooms, washroom fixture count, floor types, nights per week, and any day porter hours. Strip and wax and carpet cleaning over breaks are quoted separately so you can see each cost. We walk the building for free and give a written quote.
Screened, Insured Crews for Schools
Everyone we send into a school is police-checked. Bluestone holds WSIB clearance and carries commercial liability insurance, and we supply the WSIB clearance certificate and certificate of insurance with the quote or on request. If your board or school has its own screening or sign-in rules for contractors, we follow them. Request a quote and certificates.
Healthy schools start with the right cleaning partner.
The Bluestone Difference
Kids touch every railing, desk and door handle in the building, so the products we use have to be as safe as they are effective. We stick to child-safe, non-toxic cleaners and follow Public Health Ontario's prevention guidelines — the kind of careful, no-surprises approach a Durham principal can stand behind at a parent meeting.
Get a Free QuoteChild-Safe, Non-Toxic Products
Everything we use in a school is verified safe for children — no harsh residue left behind on a desk or a play mat.
Ready When Illness Hits
When a bug starts moving through the building, we can have a rapid-response disinfection team in within hours.
Worked Around the Calendar
PA days, March break, summer closure — we time strip and wax and carpet cleaning for when the building is empty, never the school day.
After the Bell, Always
Our crews clean once students have left, so the school day runs without a mop or a cleaner anywhere in sight.
How We Work
Our School Cleaning Approach
School Site Review
We walk the facility with your custodial coordinator to map every zone — classrooms, gyms, labs, washrooms, and more.
Product & Protocol Approval
All cleaning products are reviewed and approved to meet your school's safety policies before we begin.
School-Year Schedule
A full calendar is set — daily tasks, weekly tasks, and strip and wax and carpet cleaning cycles, all planned in advance.
Trained Staff Assignment
Assigned cleaners are police-checked and complete child-safe cleaning training before their first school day.
Daily Sign-Off
Supervisors sign off on each area completed, giving you documented proof that every space was cleaned each night.
Outbreak Protocol
Flu season, norovirus, or unexpected illness — fogging and disinfecting is written into the plan so it can start without renegotiating.
Client Voices
Durham Schools That Trust Bluestone
Since we brought Bluestone into our Whitby school, absences through cold and flu season have dropped noticeably. Staff and parents both bring up how clean the building feels — that's not something they used to mention.
They understood from day one that a school isn't an office. Right products, everything documented, and they turn around fast when a Scarborough campus needs extra cleaning on short notice.
FAQ
School Cleaning — Frequently Asked Questions
What principals, facility coordinators and school boards ask before signing a cleaning contract.
How much do school cleaning services cost?
Pricing follows the number and type of rooms, washroom fixture count, floor types and how many nights a week we attend — plus strip and wax and carpet cleaning over breaks, quoted separately. We walk the building for free and provide a fixed written quote for the term-time programme and the periodic work separately, so you can see what each costs.
Do you clean while students are in the building?
No. The daily programme runs after dismissal so classrooms are empty while products are applied and left to dwell. Where a school needs coverage during the day — washroom checks, spill response, cafeteria turnover — that is quoted as a separate day-porter role rather than mixed into the overnight clean.
What products do you use in classrooms?
Child-safe, Health Canada-approved products throughout, and we use green-certified cleaning products, with low-odour options on request. Product data sheets are provided so they can be reviewed against your board's own standards before we start.
Can you do strip and wax and carpet cleaning over the summer?
Yes. Some schools keep daily cleaning in-house and bring us in over the summer and other breaks for strip and wax on hard floors and carpet cleaning. It is quoted as its own project.
Which schools and areas do you serve?
Elementary, secondary and post-secondary facilities, plus private and independent schools, across Durham Region and the east GTA first — Pickering, Ajax, Whitby, Oshawa and Clarington — then Scarborough, North York, Toronto and the wider GTA.
Are your staff screened to work in a school?
Yes. Every crew member is police-checked before working in a school. We hold WSIB clearance and carry commercial liability insurance, and we supply the WSIB clearance certificate and certificate of insurance with our quote or on request. If your board or school requires additional screening, we follow it.
Do you work with school board custodial staff?
Yes. Where a school has its own custodians, we take the areas or periods assigned to us, such as strip and wax over the summer or fogging and disinfecting during an outbreak.
Do you clean private schools in Durham Region?
Yes. We clean private and independent schools in Pickering, Ajax, Whitby, Oshawa and Clarington, as well as schools in the east GTA.
Give Your Students a Healthier Place to Learn
Book a free school walkthrough with Bluestone. We'll design a program around your calendar and your safety standards — owner-operated, so the person setting it up is the one who stands behind it.