How School Washroom Quality Enhances Student Experience

How School Washroom Quality Enhances Student Experience

It seems like a useless consideration: how can school washroom quality enhance student experience? Obviously, students aren’t spending their whole day in the bathroom – the classroom is the central space involving education. However, school washroom quality matters. Here’s why…

This article will take a deep dive into how the quality and design of school washrooms can actually enhance student experiences. Looking to enrol more students in your school and improve parents’ perception of your educational facilities? We’re here to explain exactly how you can do this, through inspired school washroom design.

The Importance of School Washroom Design and Reputation

School environments are often carefully planned spaces that put the needs of children at the forefront of many design choices. For example, chairs and tables within classrooms are specifically built to suit the particular age groups that use that space. The classroom is considered to be at the heart of most learning activities; a place where teachers deliver engaging lessons and students become inspired.

Keeping this in mind, there are actually more aspects to the educational environment than are frequently considered. Behind the scenes, children and students require much more than just a classroom space. Facilities such as bathrooms and eateries are necessary for children to function, providing them with the comfort and energy they need to learn efficiently.

So, what about designing school washrooms? The importance of washroom design within educational environments is often overlooked. Of course, this is because teaching is done within the classroom. School bathrooms are forgotten as they’re just a facility, only to be used when necessary. However, they are entirely necessary; functional spaces that improve students’ comfort and wellbeing.

 

Improving School Status with Great Educational Washroom Design

The quality of educational washroom environments can have a huge impact on how both students and parents perceive the school. It’s not just the public facing spaces within the school that interior designers have to consider.

Whether you are trying to improve upon school status, or enhancing the ease of use for students… Don’t jump straight into re-designing the already suitable spaces within your educational facility. Taking a look at the behind the scenes areas such as school washrooms, and thinking about how they should be improved, is a great first step.

Imagine you’re walking into a café, and your first port of call before ordering is the toilet. You enter the washroom to find it’s grimy, unhygienic and full of outdated equipment. Would you still want to order food from that café, knowing the restrooms have been completely disregarded?

Work backwards and fix the toilet facilities first. You’ll then have amazing washrooms to build upon, from the inside out.

 

Parent Expectations and School Washroom Maintenance

When parents come to view a school, they’re looking to evaluate how suitable that particular school environment is for their beloved children. They want to look beyond the classroom. The classroom plays an integral part in their evaluations, of course – it’s where students will spend most of their time. But they also want to be assured that their children are well looked after.

Facilities, such as dining areas and student washrooms, are often more closely scrutinised than the classroom themselves. This is because when a great deal of effort goes into creating areas that care for the students, parents begin to comprehend just how much the school cares about their wellbeing.

As a major focal point for parents that are considering sending their children to a particular school, whether it’s a primary or secondary point of education, student washrooms should be well designed and hygienic. Read on to discover how quality bathroom design can also enhance the student experience, too.

 

How Student Experiences are Enriched with Quality Bathroom Design

Each and every one of your school’s students will visit the washroom at least once a day. It’s possible that teachers and admin staff may not consider the impact that school bathroom design has on their students. This is simply because they have no reason to use the facilities themselves.

Students are always bound to relate the quality of their washroom experiences to the reputation of the school itself. A fancy, well equipped classroom may provide them with all the learning facilities they need… But their needs don’t stop there.

Break times and washroom requirements can form the way students interact with teachers, other students, and even the information that is sent their way. Unhygienic bathrooms leave children feeling disheartened and forgotten about, while the necessities of washroom design and toilet requirements are disregarded.

In order to overcome this, it is imperative that school washroom design is improved. Rather than seeing the bathrooms as the final touch, you should be focusing on transforming them first. Especially right now, sanitised personal spaces matter more than ever.

Here are a few key tips as to how you can provide students with perfect washroom areas that will enhance their learning abilities.

Student Washroom Design Tips

  • Think about washroom traffic and how busy the space will become. Each school has varying amounts of students, and the position of every washroom will have an impact on how busy that area becomes. Frequently used bathrooms may become damaged more often, so the durability of appliances becomes a major consideration here.

  • Consider the hygienic implications with regards to bathroom facilities and fixtures. Fittings such as toilet seats can be carefully selected in order to minimise the amount of backsplash that occurs when flushing after use. Materials used to fit out the bathroom will also make a huge difference. Imagine you’re the cleaner in charge of sanitising the space. You want smooth, wipeable surfaces with no hidden holes where germs can accumulate.

  • Don’t forget about the aesthetic elements of your educational washroom. Students will appreciate how the school has worked to uplift their surroundings. This can be done by adding bold colours, textured installations or even natural elements, such as plants. Windows aren’t always appropriate for bathrooms, but consider strategically placed windows that invite outdoor lighting without compromising on privacy.
  • Educational content can be installed within washrooms, too. Learning is thought by many as being restricted to the classroom environment. However, children are constantly learning as they go about their day, taking in stimuli from every environment they come across. Think about placing infographics and posters within the washrooms, so they have something to look at as they wait to use the toilet.

Design Quality Educational Washrooms with BrookhouseUK

Wondering how you can achieve a well designed washroom space that appeals to both parents and students? BrookhouseUK have developed a range of bespoke services that will cater to all your educational bathroom design needs. With space utilisation services that allow you to provide for more students with less, to designing encouraging places that will inspire children to do better in the classroom…

We know just how important it is to consider your school’s status in referring and enrolling new students. Their entire educational experiences may be shaped by the interior environments they are surrounded by throughout these formative years. That’s why we’re here to help. Get in touch with our approachable team at BrookhouseUK if you’d like to discuss your ideas. We’re sure we can expand upon them, bringing your dreams to fruition!

How Washroom Design Can Reduce the Impact of COVID-19

How Washroom Design Can Reduce the Impact of COVID-19

We all know how much the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted us over the past few months. As we look deeper into how we can all return to work and some sense of normality, it’s essential that a few areas of our lifestyles are adapted. This will enable us to conduct our everyday routines in a safe manner, while still being able to get back to doing the things many of us have missed for months now.

We’re dedicated to providing our clients not only with amazing designs, but also with the safest options out there. In our industry, safety is a must. While the ideas around safety and hygiene are shifting due to the virus and how it may continue to have a profound impact upon all of our lives, it’s important to us that we innovate in order to keep our clients safe – and happy!

Public bathrooms are an essential element of our lives. Some of us are somewhat shocked to hear that they remain open in areas such as supermarkets despite the pandemic; however, they are a crucial part of everyday life. Ensuring that they remain safe spaces despite everything going on is something we believe in. Here’s just a couple of the ways we’re innovating in order to continue to provide hygienic washrooms in education!

Touchless Technology

Since the outbreak began, we have all seen many changes within businesses such as supermarkets. Many of them have installed touchless apparatus that allows us to sanitise our hands with just one easy swipe. This reduces the spread of any virus and bacteria, and we’re also being advised not to touch products or items where at all unnecessary. Many of us are hesitant about using public areas, such as washrooms, which may be relatively confined in terms of how much personal space we have.

At BrookhouseUK, we have plenty of experience in designing functional and effective washrooms. We’re therefore familiar with the techniques used within the sanitation industry. Touchless technologies have been in place for years now, particularly within washrooms. As people become more wary of touching surfaces and spreading the virus, we are also becoming more vigilant about our adoption of touchless equipment. Touchless hand sanitisers are one key means of achieving this, as nobody wants to continually have to push on the same button that hundreds have also used in the washroom!

This is one of the reasons that touchless hand-dryers came to be a common theme within public washrooms. While remaining environmentally friendly and not wasting an abundance of hand towels, people are still able to dry their hands without having to touch things unnecessarily. This development has since been implemented into other areas of the washroom, such as in touchless taps and flush systems.

It’s these kinds of innovative, touchless technologies that we’re looking deeper into as a company, as we navigate what will be a new, post-pandemic industry. Washrooms have always been a key area within which strong sanitation regulations are upheld, at least in our eyes; and the worries surrounding COVID-19 only make these matters increasingly pressing.

Smooth, Sanitised Surfaces

The ability to keep surfaces effectively sanitised is essential in every washroom. Public washrooms are infinitely trickier when it comes to making those all-important design choices. More people will utilise the facilities we choose to design, so we want to please everyone while keeping spaces aesthetically pleasing for all. That’s why the surfaces we decide to design within our washrooms are always selected with hygiene in mind. Scrubbing dirt or trying to sanitise a textured, ridged surface is infinitely harder than getting the job done with one simple swipe! While germs aren’t even visible, it’s important that we implement as many design techniques that we possibly can that aim to help us maintain cleaner public spaces.

Textured surfaces, while popular, simply aren’t a very feasible option for washrooms at the best of times. While we still like the impact offered by including a textured façade to our washrooms, we don’t have to compromise on hygiene in doing so. Much of our recent design efforts (pre-COVID) used wooden patterns embedded within smooth surfaces. This allowed us to add a deeper dimension to what is actually a fully hygienic, easy to clean surface.

As designers who take pride in our creative efforts, we don’t like to feel that we have to compromise on aesthetics. That’s why we take the time to discover new ways to innovate, rather than simply comply – if everyone had the same ideas, everything would look the same! We’re passionate about providing solutions that allow educational facilities to inspire, while focusing on comfort and hygiene at all times. We’re taking our ideas such as these a step further, as we consider the evolving ways in which we will need to design for a post-lockdown world.

Partitioned Elements

As we all know, cleaning efforts are being ramped up as a result of COVID-19. However, cleanliness has always been a huge factor to consider when designing washrooms! We have always taken great pride in the level of hygiene that our washrooms here at BrookhouseUK have helped educational organisations uphold. However, things are still continuing to innovate in order to specifically shield us against the virus. For example, the government has recommended that people try to remain 2m apart at all times. While this is not a worry considering the modular cubicles common in most public bathrooms, other areas may become concerning. Most bathrooms do not adhere to the 2m gap rule in relation to sink placement. We’re currently looking at new ways in which we can ensure our clients can continue to adhere to the social distancing rules we have all become so familiar with.

One solution to this may be to have sinks that are spaced further apart; however, as we specialise in space utilisation, we realise that space may not permit this. We have great links within the industry we work in, and we therefore have good connections with partners who can help us install effective partitioning units. These would ensure that we can remain safe while following those all-important 20 second handwashing routines! All the while, we’re committed to making these spaces look great, too.

BrookhouseUK Can Help Reduce the Impact of COVID-19 in Your Washrooms

While it’s still vital that everyone follows government guidelines and keeps social distancing, we think the aforementioned washroom refurbishment ideas can revolutionise the way we see hygiene in our everyday lives. Working in industries such as education, our priorities have always had a strong foothold in areas such as hygiene – however, current affairs continue to change the way we all work, and we remain vigilant in staying ahead of our competition.

At BrookhouseUK, we’re confident that we can help you adjust your educational facilities in a way that allows children to return back to school safely. As our motivated team are brimming with new ideas, and staying fully informed concerning the changes within industry, we’d be delighted to discuss any ideas you may have! Please get in touch if you’re interested via our contact page. We look forward to discussing how we can change your students’ lives in a positive way, even amidst everything going on right now. As always, we hope you are continuing to stay safe; however we are also looking forward to innovations that we are making throughout each of our design choices.