Press release: New guidance on toilet design will help to combat bullying in schools

25 April 2007

New guidance published today governing the specification of toilet blocks in schools will help tackle bullying in secondary schools. New designs to be used in all BSF schools will make toilets more attractive, cleaner and safer for pupils to use.

The guidance, Toilets in Schools, recommends making hand-washing areas more visible and placing toilet blocks opposite classrooms and staff areas enabling them to be supervised “passively”. With the fear of bullies using toilets to threaten and mistreat others reduced, pupils will be more likely to drink water at school and so keep hydrated throughout the day. 

Tim Byles, Chief Executive for Partnerships for Schools said:

“There is a very real issue around bullying in schools, with toilet blocks recognised as a hot spot for bullies to target those they choose to intimidate and threaten.

In a bid to avoid having to visit the toilet at school, many young people refuse to drink water, exposing them to the risk of becoming dehydrated, while others have developed bladder and bowel problems. This is an unacceptable situation, but thanks to today’s new guidance, cramped, dirty and vandalised toilets can become a thing of the past. Toilets in BSF schools will no longer provide bullies with places that lend themselves all too readily to anti-social behaviour.”

Beverley Leeson, Deputy Director from ERIC, the organisation behind the ‘Bog Standard’ campaign for better toilets for pupils, welcomed the guidance and said:

“ERIC warmly welcomes the guidance to improve the standard of school toilet design, an area of school design that has been overlooked for far too long. School toilets are often the most concerning issue for pupils and the impact on their health and well being can be serious and far-reaching. The very important focus on encouraging pupils to drink more during the school day must be accompanied by having toilets that pupils are happy and able to use when they need to. Good toilet design and high standards of maintenance can go a long way to reducing or eradicating problems such as bullying and vandalism. Toilets that pupils can be proud of also reduce rates of absenteeism, boost self-esteem, improve relations between pupils and teachers, and encourage willingness and ability to learn. We very much hope that the proposals in this guidance will be widely adopted for the benefit of pupils.”

As well as overhauling the design of toilets in secondary schools, the Building Schools for the Future programme is seeking to address anti-social behaviours more broadly through design features such as avoiding dead-end corridors and dark corners and generally increasing visibility of all parts of the school.

Tim Byles said:

“Combating bullying in its entirety will never of course be solved overnight just by changing the physical design of a school. It is a far more complex challenge than that and, as such, one which requires a multi-pronged approach. It is, of course, the unenviable task of the teaching profession to manage bullying within individual schools, but the contribution that BSF makes is to make that management easier within the confines of the school gates.”

Notes to Editors:

1. The new Guidance – Toilets in Schools – is part of a series of Standard Specifications, Layouts and Dimensions DfES guidance notes produced for the Building Schools for the Future programme.
2. The significant increases in funding associated with the BSF programme introduce scope for using standardised specifications, layouts and dimensions (SSLD) to speed up design and construction, reduce whole life costs and deliver consistently high quality, sustainable and better value school buildings.  We have consulted widely to ensure that such benefits can be delivered in a way that is acceptable to both the design community and the construction industry, and which does not stifle creativity and design flair while ensuring a minimum specification in all our future schools.
3. Tim Byles announced the publication of the Guidance at the 5th Annual Education Partnerships Conference in London. A full copy of his speech is available on this page.
4. More details of the Bog Standard campaign can be accessed through: www.bog-standard.org
5. Building Schools for the Future (BSF) is the largest single schools capital investment programme for over 50 years. The aim is to rebuild or renew every one of England?s 3,500 state secondary schools during the 15-year lifetime of the programme.
6. Partnerships for Schools (PfS) is the delivery agency for Building Schools for the Future. PfS was established in April 2004 as a Non-Departmental Public Body (NDPB), and is operated and funded under a joint venture between DfES and Partnerships UK.

MEDIA ENQUIRIES:  

Amy Leonard, Communications Director, Partnerships for Schools: 07960 116966