School can be the best time of your life. It is a time for making friends, learning important lessons and enjoying yourself. However, it can also be a time of struggle. Bullying is a major issue that schools face, and reports suggest that the issue is only getting worse. Mental health difficulties and even physical health implications can result from bullying. Dealing with bad behaviour is not just an issue of improving pupils’ comfort and happiness – it is a health issue. Schools can take all kinds of initiatives to deal with negative behaviour, but some of the most effective approaches might surprise you. School Bathroom Design can actually improve behaviour.
A study in 2008 found that around 40% of children feared using the school bathroom due to the behaviour of their fellow pupils there. In 2010, a study from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine found that 40% of girls said they would never visit school toilets, and 12% of boys in secondary schools said that ‘bad things’ occurred in school toilets.
Elements of School Bathroom Design
Open Spaces
The spaces of school bathrooms can lend themselves to bad behaviour and bullying. The layout of a poorly designed school bathroom can make it an easier place for bad behaviour to flourish. Small, cramped or dark corners provide a perfect location for the sort of behaviour that schools want to avoid. Redesigning school bathrooms to have broader, more open spaces without any small corners or corridors can remove the locations for bad behaviour to take place, and hence reduce their prevalence.
Design
Traditionally, school bathrooms have not been designed to be warm and inviting places. The appearance you might have in your head of a school toilet does not represent the range of colours and styles available now. Bright and welcoming design – including use of colours – can help create an environment that is feels safe and pleasant. This in turn is likely to make the place less of a location for negative actions and behaviour.
Privacy
Many children feel uncomfortable using school toilet facilities. This can be the result of bullying or other negative behaviour, but it can also be due to the state and condition of the toilets themselves. Many school toilets that have not been renovated for some time can be in a poor condition. Toilets that are unpleasant to use – or are not designed to give enough privacy – are a major factor in bad behaviour in bathrooms. Increasing the privacy in toilet cubicles can make pupils feel more comfortable in using the bathroom, and safer from potential bullying or hostile behaviour.
Hygiene
Clean, well maintained and bright bathrooms can discourage aggressive behaviour from school pupils. An atmosphere of neglect can lead to a bathroom being thought of as a suitable location for negative behavioural trends to take place. If children do not feel that they can use the bathroom because of its lack of hygiene, it will likely become quiet and empty. Busy bathrooms are much less likely to be places of bad behaviour than those where there is a much lower chance of being seen doing something wrong.
Cubicle Warehouse are specialists in fitting bright, clean and well designed school bathrooms. We stock a wide range of cubicles and fittings that can enliven your school’s toilets, and make them a safer place for pupils to use. Check out our full range of toilet cubicles today.
