Circular number 10/96

Part III - Accommodation in Boarding Schools



Sleeping accommodation for boarding pupils
Washrooms for boarding pupils
Living accommodation for boarding pupils
Accommodation for cooking and eating
Sick rooms
Accommodation for residential staff
Storage facilities


Sleeping accommodation for boarding pupils

  1. Any school with boarding pupils - whether or not it also has day pupils - must provide sleeping accommodation for all boarding pupils.

  2. Pupils aged 8 years and over (Y4 and above) must not share sleeping accommodation with pupils of the opposite sex.

  3. There are minimum floor areas for pupils' dormitories, cubicles and bedrooms.

Dormitories

  1. To find the minimum floor area which must be provided:
  • multiply the number of pupils sleeping in the dormitory by 4.2m2; and

  • add 1.6m2 to the result.
  1. There should also be a distance of at least 0.9m between any two beds in a dormitory.

Bedrooms and cubicles

  1. A cubicle for a single pupil must have its own window and a minimum floor area of 5.0m2.

  2. A bedroom for a single pupil must have a minimum floor area of 6.0m2.



Washrooms for boarding pupils

  1. Boarding schools must have water closets, washbasins, baths and showers which are reasonably accessible to the sleeping accommodation. There must be at least one water closet for every 5 pupils, and at least one wash basin for every three of the first 60 boarding pupils, for every four of the next 40 boarding pupils and for every 5 further boarding pupils. The number of pupils should always be rounded up to the next multiple of 3, 4 or 5 as appropriate.

  2. For example, a school with 30 boarding pupils would need 6 water closets and 10 washbasins. But a school with 31 boarding pupils would need 7 water closets and 11 washbasins.

  3. The minimum number of baths or showers is one for every 10 boarding pupils: the number of pupils being rounded up to the next multiple of 10 if it is not a multiple of 10. At least 25% of that minimum number must be baths (so, if 25% of the minimum number does not produce a whole number, the answer should again be rounded up).

  4. A school with 30 boarding pupils would therefore need 3 fittings, at least one of which must be a bath, while a school with 31 boarding pupils would need 4 fittings, at least one of which must be a bath.



Living accommodation for boarding pupils

  1. All boarding schools should include living accommodation for the boarding pupils with a total floor area of at least 2.3m2 for each pupil. Any social areas such as common rooms, games rooms and TV rooms should be included in the calculation, as should areas set aside for private study outside school hours. Other areas in which pupils socialise also count as living accommodation. These will vary from school to school, but may include kitchens where pupils can prepare hot drinks or snacks; and other, informal meeting areas.

  2. The following rooms or spaces are also taken into account in calculating the minimum area:
  • study bedrooms/cubicles; and

  • any part of the school adjacent to the boarding accommodation, which pupils can appropriately use for social purposes or private study outside school hours.



Accommodation for cooking and eating

  1. All boarding schools should have somewhere to prepare meals for boarding pupils (see paragraph 32 above), and also somewhere for them to eat. This does not have to be within the boarding accommodation, providing it is part of the school and is adjacent to the boarding accommodation.



Sick rooms

  1. A boarding school must have one or more sick rooms - and if the school has more than 40 boarding pupils, one or more separate isolation rooms - and associated facilities such as baths, washbasins and water closets.

  2. The minimum floor areas of sick room and isolation rooms are larger than those in ordinary dormitories, and so is the minimum distance between beds. There should be at least 7.4m2 of floor area for each bed, and a distance of at least 1.8m between any two beds. If cubicles are provided within sick rooms, each cubicle should have its own window. The requirement to have associated facilities "by way of baths, washbasins and water closets" does not, of course, prevent schools from providing additional facilities, such as showers, for their sick rooms.



Accommodation for residential staff

  1. Accommodation for residential staff, whether teachers or otherwise, must be separate from accommodation for boarding pupils. The staff accommodation should include somewhere for the staff to eat, somewhere for them to sleep and an appropriate number of baths, showers, washbasins and water closets.



Storage facilities

  1. A boarding school shall include adequate storage facilities for pupils' belongings and adequate facilities for the storage and care of linen.