Toilet Refurbishment

Friday, 9th February 2024 at 7:35am

Modern, Functional Facilities

We’ve completed the refurbishment of four toilet blocks over the summer break, and we wanted to share some information with you all.

Our old bathroom facilities were nearly 50 years old and the upgrade was well overdue. When we were planning the refurbishment, we had a couple of issues uppermost in our mind:

• We wanted the bathrooms to be safe, modern spaces all of our students could be comfortable using
• We wanted to discourage negative behaviour such as vaping and vandalism

The new bathrooms are modern, bright spaces that are very functional:

• Contemporary designs and materials, with better use of space
• Visibility into communal areas discourages gathering and negative behaviour
• More private toilet cubicles with higher dividing walls and more space
• LED lighting for energy efficiency
• Vape detection alarms - we continue to be very concerned about the impacts of vaping
• Aligned with best practice for modern schools, and Ministry of Education guidelines.

If your child has any concerns, please assure them that the new bathrooms are private and functional, and also that if they need somewhere quiet to spend time during the school day, there are spaces available - details of these are listed below.

Privacy

We want all students to feel comfortable using the toilet facilities and the new design better utilises the space and increases visibility into the communal areas of the toilet facilities through glass windows and doors. The toilet cubicles themselves are completely private.

Like many other schools, Green Bay High School has had a system of CCTV cameras throughout the school, which are designed to support staff in keeping students and property safe, and to help resolve incidents when they occur. Our systems and policies protect privacy for students, and in practice the footage is only reviewed on an as-needed basis by specific people.

There is a CCTV camera in the communal area of each of the four refurbished toilet blocks which covers the communal and hand washing areas. We took this step because there was frequent damage being done in our old toilet blocks which cost a significant amount of money and meant we had to regularly close facilities while repairs were being undertaken.

Support and quiet spaces

There are times when students need extra support and a quiet space when there is a lot going on and we have different places that our students can go when time out or support is needed.

• Our Well-being Centre is a welcoming environment and is always supervised by one of our Pastoral Team.
• We have two full time counsellors at GBHS as well as the 24/7 youth workers who are available to support students in the youth worker room which is in the E Block Quad.
• Students can also go to our student reception area with any concerns, at any time of the day, where they will be looked after. There is always a member of the Senior Leadership and Deans Team in the Deans corridor.

The well-being and safety of all our students is always paramount. Feel free to contact us if you have any feedback or suggestions.

Ngā mihi nui, Fiona Barker PRINCIPAL