Design for Behaviour. How a new school design is blamed for poor student behaviour.

Below follows the extract from an article written by Anna Highfield and published by The Architects Journal on 22 January 2023

HLM Architects has defended its design of a school in south Wales, which is being blamed for contributing to a ‘behavioural crisis’ among pupils

a new-build school on the outskirts of Barry in the Vale of Glamorgan, made headlines last week following a teachers’ strike over student behaviour, coinciding with the resignation of its interim head teacher months after she was drafted into the position.

During a second day of strike action on 18 January, representatives from the National Association of Schoolmasters Union of Women Teachers (NASUWT) cited the design of Pencoedtre High School among the causes of? ‘severe pupil behaviour issues’.

According to the union, there have been more than 50 serious incidents of verbal and physical abuse and 136 exclusions at Pencoedtre since September, with teachers describing ‘being used as punchbags by pupils’ and reporting feeling ‘helpless’.

The ￡34.7 million school was billed by HLM as a ‘state-of-the-art’ facility which ‘creates a welcoming educational environment’ for its 1,100 pupils when it completed in March 2022. In 2023 it was?shortlisted ?for School of the Year in the Education Building Wales Awards.

HLM has since defended its design, saying it was built to a council-approved layout and received ‘extremely positive’ feedback from staff and pupils after opening.

HLM’s Pencoedtre High School in the Vale of Glamorgan, Wales

But NASUWT members and the recent interim head, Debra Thomas, claim the school’s layout, which centres on an open plan dining hall, main hall, and courtyard, is fuelling bad behaviour by allowing large groups of pupils to gather and interact.

During a meeting of Vale of Glamorgan Council’s learning and culture scrutiny committee on 11 January, Thomas said it was ‘painful’ to admit that ‘the design of the building is quite a big issue’.

She added that the ‘very open’ design of the school building is problematic, as it ‘facilitates large groups to form’ Wales online reported.

HLM's Pencoedtre High School in the Vale of Glamorgan, Wales

Speaking to the AJ, NASUWT national executive member Mark Morris, whose background is in architecture, including school design for Welsh councils, said: ‘The building design isn’t causing the behavioural issues, but the design?is?exacerbating underlying behavioural problems.’

Morris said a key problem with Pencoedtre was its ‘open design’, and social spaces which ‘visually and environmentally’ encourage children to gather and socialise.

He said while this is a desirable attribute in adult working environments, it is not appropriate in schools, where it is ‘leading to a lot of internal truanting’. He added: ‘The open access of all the corridors from a big central atrium means pupils can skip [between and] jump on stairwells to different floors and different parts of the school really quickly.’

Morris said the open atrium, with its multiple storeys of open internal balconies also meant that ‘even for well-behaved pupils,?the temptation to throw something at somebody below you or even accidentally rest a bag or bottle on the banister so it falls down, is huge.’

Morris said other design issues with the school include staircase fire escape areas at the end of corridors behind closed doors, which create hidden spaces for teenagers to gather and vape, and the placement of the pupil support unit, ‘designed to be part of the school building, [which means] you have the most challenging kids in that unit, mixed in with the general school population’.

Fellow NASUWT national executive member Mark Harris branded the design of the new school buildings ‘remarkably poor’, while union official Sharron Daly?called the building ?‘not fit for purpose’, adding: ‘The physical make-up of the building is not going to help this situation.’

Pencoedtre High School masterplan

They added: ‘The layout was developed and approved in consultation with the Vale of Glamorgan Council, the school and wider stakeholders at the time and, following the school’s opening, feedback was extremely positive from staff and pupils.

‘With our longstanding relationship, we will continue to support our client where needed to deliver excellent learning environments.’

Built over two years, Pencoedtre High School was part of a ￡34.7 million investment into the Sustainable Communities for Learning Programme for Welsh schools by the local council and the Welsh government.

The school includes two three-storey teaching wings, connected by wide corridors, centred around an open plan dining hall, main hall, and courtyard, with music studios, sciences labs, a fitness suite and a full-sized sports hall intended to open to the local community out-of-hours.

At the time of completion, HLM’s Cardiff studio director Gareth Woodfin said: ‘Our design creates a welcoming educational environment that reflects the area’s rich industrial history.’

A Vale of Glamorgan Council spokesperson said: ‘There are a number of complex behavioural issues that are causing challenges within the school environment.‘ The council is working closely with the school and unions in addressing these. The council has a strong relationship with HLM and stakeholders were fully consulted and supportive of the school’s design during the planning process.’

Credit: Article first published by Architects Journal on 22 January 2024. Written by Anna Highfield.?

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