Breakout rooms
“Going into the breakout space can be like a safe little area where you just do work and like, feel safe.”
Belonging is essential to thriving.
A sense of belonging in a school is complicated. Social connection matters. Students feel belonging when they connect to their peers and their teachers. School spaces can inhibit and facilitate those connections.
As well as needing connection, students express a need for spaces to be alone away from surveillance: this too is a part of a sense of belonging.
Having ownership over a space, like a locker, feels like
belonging
Being able to personalise spaces, like a classroom, feels like
belonging
Knowing where your friendship group will sit in the break feels like
belonging
Yet belonging is rarely talked about directly. It is often implicit through stories of exclusion.
In a vertical school students see each other more which can amplify a sense of belonging—but also, possibly, amplify any sense of exclusion.
Students feel that they belong when spaces feel manageable and safe. Being unable to concentrate or feeling exposed can make students feel excluded.
Seeing art,
nature,
and friends
helps students to feel comfortable. This kind of comfort does a lot to create a sense of belonging.
Being able to personalise a space adds to a sense of belonging
Every level, it's the same classroom over
and over again.
“You know, like in primary school, we had art of students hanging up on the walls, and it was more personalised. I feel like that could definitely help… help learning and help make it feel a bit more because otherwise it just feels…
just repeat,
repeat,
repeat."
Students are more visible to each other in a vertical school
...and that can add to a sense of belonging.
belonging = own space/ownership
Students have spaces that feel comfortable, places where they belong.
It's largely unspoken and ad hoc but it's real.
Any space where a group can gather in a break, and any space that is away from surveillance.
Lockers
“It makes people feel safe as well, because a lot of people put, you know, pictures of their friends or their family on the inside of their locker.”
Tables
“Yeah, it's a bit territorial… during break you'll call on that spot… it'll just be where one friend group will hang out. It's almost like in the American teen high school movies, where everyone has their own table. It's like it's not spoken about, but everyone, every friend, group and every person…there's like the space that they go and everyone knows that that's like their space.”
Booths
“If you come across a booth they'll usually be under the stairs where certain friend groups go and you just pass them. The whole friend group would be there. If they weren't there, and someone was there like it would just it would cause confusion. It'd be, 'hang on. What's going on?'”
Toilets
“I went in and I heard someone, you know, crying, and I just thought to myself, “Oh, that person's not having a very good day.” …I wasn't judging them, which means, like, gives you a bit of hope like”, Oh, if you were doing that no, like, someone wouldn't be judging you”. It's a comfortable place to sort of just express yourself.”
Roof Gardens
Roof Gardens “[the roof garden is where] I feel safe and relaxed.”
Social connections are integral to belonging within the school, but these need a spatial context to occur, which can be complicated in a vertical school.
connection to teachers
“It's not the classroom that makes it good. It's the teachers and how open teachers are to your ideas.”
connection to peers
“two days ago we had a joint class, with four classrooms in one class. There was lots of kids… that's a good opportunity to see your friends if they're not in your class but the but it does create, like a very big problem. The space it becomes really cramped.”
connection to community
“The school extended beyond the school… I like that framing as well about that sense of connection.”
Yet students also say that time to themselves is important.
“I think everyone has those moments where they just hate the crowd of other people. And they just wanna be alone with no one who could possibly annoy them or cause them any problems whatsoever.”
Spaces at school can feel many different ways.
A safe space that feels like home.
“The lockers are often a place where you just circle back to ... because one it's your own space, like that's the only thing that's kind of yours. Well, it's not, but you know what I mean? Like, it's your own space. It's your own even if I find myself accidentally just opening my locker to just look, just open the locker just because it's comfortable.
It's your space. It's like your room. Yeah, it is. It's really similar. So in a school, it's a very small room. So often at recharge, you'll wait at your locker. The lockers are like a little gathering spot because… it's like your home, your address. You'll know that that person will be there.”
But also a busy space that can be physically intimidating
“I saw in the video there was one scene he like tried to bump through everybody because they were just crowding in the hallway. That's very common here. Like not many people are that considerate to just, like move aside. And people would just like elbow you on the way through for just, just for no reason.”
“If you're like small, then it's gonna happen to you more in year seven. I was probably a couple of inches smaller than I am now, so, like I've just been muscled around even more than now. But now that I'm taller, we are still muscled around by, like year elevens or twelves or things or whatever, but less than last year.”
Feeling safe is part of belonging.
Is this space manageable?
Feeling like you can manage the space adds to a sense of belonging.
"so there's not really a place where people with sensory issues can go that isn't crowded and isn't noisy, you know?"
Spaces that feel safe
The balcony is a space that is quiet where students feel they can reset
“I noticed that it's a safe place and everyone are allowed to read it by yourself, because when you when you like, sit there the wind that blows you and it's refreshing your mind because you got other stuff. So it's a safe destination”
The outside world looms
“Even if you had fences they would go up to the fence and take photos anyway so it's not really something you can stop”
“They weren't wearing school uniform or anything. They had one had a beard, so it was clearly an adult, and he just tried walking in and all the doors are unlocked around break time. So if break kind of happened, he could have just walked in.”
Space from other people
“Safety from annoying people…. Yeah, like, um, obviously, there'll always be people in school where, like, they just they're not the nicest person”
“Fear of when people… come and talk to me so I chose this no people space”
"Feeling comfortable makes me feel like I belong."
Things can feel comfortable
“The seats are an ideal space to eat and socialise. You can also view art and enjoy the scenery”
“then I also saw my friends from primary school. So, like I immediately felt comfortable”
“level one benches never get used. Like people use them sometimes. These are comfortable and cool, the bottom of the stairs”
Create a home at school
“I find myself accidentally just opening my locker to just, like, look like just like open the locker just because it's like comfortable. It's your space…It's like your home, your address.”
Exclusion feels uncomfortable
“other people… might not be comfortable with having a unisex bathroom”
Why is belonging so important for salutogenic wellbeing?
A sense of belonging is vital for students to thrive within a school. The antonym of belonging is isolation; students expressed a desire to feel part of their school community and to feel at home in the space, to feel welcome. Friendships with peers and connections with teachers make a school feel inspiring, engaging and nurturing—they make school feel meaningful.
A sense of belonging is underpinned by a need for school spaces that are manageable. Students need to feel safe, comfortable, and included. Students in vertical schools see each other more, which amplifies the sense of belonging but can also amplify any possibly exclusion. Having personal spaces like lockers and breakout rooms, being able to personalise parts of their environment, and having spaces where they feel in control can all help to make the complexities of school social life feel more manageable. The provide some familiarity and predictability that help to make the complexity of school life feel more comprehensible.
Personal
Thriving is enhanced when spaces provide psychosocial comfort in the form of personalisation and control. In schools, almost all space is public space. Any space that students feel is theirs to manage provides a great deal of comfort. The ability to control these spaces and access to them, however small that space may be, takes on surprising weight for students.
“[The lockers] make people feel safe as well, because a lot of people put, you know, pictures of their friends or their family on the inside of their locker”
“You know, like in primary school, we had art of students hanging up on the walls, and it was more personalised. I feel like that could definitely help.”
Social
Thriving is enhanced when students feel socially connected and valued. Attention to relationships in a school are hugely important, and the environment can strengthen this.
“I think all of [the classrooms] have a glass door. And so then you'll be walking out of school and you just see someone you know, and you wave to them and say hi and then walk off, you know? And I think that's pretty cool.”
In any school environment, students also need a way to have time to themselves, to escape the amplification of so many people in one place.
“I think everyone has those moments where they just hate the crowd of other people. And they just wanna be alone with no one who could possibly annoy them or cause them any problems whatsoever.”
Environmental
Thriving is enhanced when spaces feel safe. They are often less exposed than other, more public spaces and include balconies, breakout rooms, and toilets. These homely spaces provide the predictability and comfort that makes it more possible feel a sense of belonging within the complex social environment.
“I noticed that [the balcony is] a safe place and everyone is allowed to read by [themselves], because when you sit there the wind blows you and it's refreshing your mind… it's a safe destination.”
“Even if you had fences, they would go up to the fence and take photos anyway. So, it's not really something you can stop whether you're in a vertical school or not at school...”
Environmental/Social
Thriving is enhanced when students feel included. When students find their environment difficult to manage, such as in a mismatch between sensory needs and the school environment, then exclusion arises.
“So there's not really a place where people with sensory issues can go that isn't crowded and isn't noisy, you know?”
How can belonging encourage thriving?
ownership of space
How might we provide students with spaces that they can personalise and 'own', even if it's just for a while?
What about the concept of a locker being a 'home' for the student might translate even in the absence of lockers?
Which parts of the school-as-canvas might be given over to students to manage as a part of voice and choice?
safety & seclusion
How might we balance the need for students to be visible and safe with the need for spaces of seclusion to reset?
How might we ensure that students feel safe within an urban, permeable school?
What about finding ways for students to share their feelings around safety in a school and then respond to them?
What about spaces that aren't toilets where students can seek out alone time to reset and focus easily and without stigma?
inclusion & comfort
How might we make use of amplification to strengthen the inclusiveness of the school community?
How might we ensure that diverse students feel comfortable?
Teachers and students see each other more often in a vertical school. It seems to work when this amplification is consciously leveraged to build an inclusive culture. What about effective use of breakout rooms and voice and choice to help all students feel comfortable?