Principal's Report

Improving Safety and Privacy in Our Student Toilets 

Every student has the right to feel safe, comfortable and respected in every area of our College—including within our toilet facilities. 

Over recent years, the College has invested in scanners to help reduce vandalism in our toilets. This investment has had a positive impact, with a noticeable reduction in damage to these facilities. However, student voice also tells us that some students still feel uncomfortable or unsafe in particular areas of the school because of the behaviour of others, especially within and around the toilets. 

We have listened carefully to these concerns. In response to feedback regularly raised by our student body, significant upgrades will be made to the Year 8 and 9 toilet facilities. 

These types of changes are increasingly being incorporated into schools and public facilities across Australia. Contemporary amenity design aims to provide complete privacy within individual cubicles while improving natural light, visibility and passive supervision in shared areas. This balance helps people feel more comfortable using the facilities while discouraging unsafe, intimidating or antisocial behaviour. 

The planned changes will include: 

• The installation of full-height DuraCube privacy-core cubicles, providing complete privacy from floor to ceiling. Students will not be able to look over the partitions or underneath the doors. 

• The removal of the urinals in the boys’ amenities. These will be replaced with an additional enclosed cubicle, providing two private cubicles in each of the boys’ facilities. 

• The installation of glass within the external entry doors. This will allow more natural light into the shared entry areas and make these spaces less attractive for students to gather or “hang out”, while maintaining complete privacy within each individual cubicle. 

This approach has already been incorporated into the newly completed toilet facilities in our Senior Centre and Year 7 Centre. The impact has been significant: students report feeling safer and more comfortable using these spaces, while incidents of vandalism have reduced to an exceptionally low level. These positive outcomes give us confidence that extending the same design principles to the Year 8 and 9 facilities will provide similar benefits for our middle-school students. 

These improvements are designed to create toilet facilities that are brighter, more private and safer for everyone. They will also support more respectful use of these shared spaces and reduce opportunities for intimidating, disruptive or antisocial behaviour. 

Importantly, the design carefully balances two priorities: students will have complete privacy while using individual cubicles, while the shared areas will be more open, visible and welcoming. 

This work reflects our commitment to listening and responding to student voice. We want every student to be able to access the toilets when needed without feeling anxious, uncomfortable or unsafe. We also ask all students to support these improvements by treating the upgraded facilities—and one another—with respect. 

Safety, dignity and privacy are central to these changes, and we look forward to providing facilities that better meet the needs and expectations of all students. 

Please note: This is an AI rendering of cubicles for purposes of seeing selected colours and height of doors/partitions. Not actual WHSC facilities.