For our final View from the Top of the academic year, Catherine Hitchcock, head of Donhead Prep School, explores why the spaces children learn in matter just as much as what they're taught. From inspiring curiosity and collaboration to supporting wellbeing and academic success, she argues that thoughtfully designed school environments play a vital role in helping pupils flourish.
It is easy to think of classrooms in the traditional sense of the word as fixed: desks in rows, walls covered in displays, a whiteboard at the front. The classroom is a space we will all have experienced during our school days, yet learning spaces are changing and developing in light of research findings. What do the children think and feel about this and have we asked them?
At Donhead Prep School, our move to coeducation has encouraged us to review and refine both space and how it is used. Some of the most meaningful changes we have made have come simply from asking pupils what helps them learn best. When discussing learning environments, they speak about wanting spaces where they can think, build, explore, and regulate themselves, places that support both collaboration and independent work.
Listening to pupils has challenged some of our assumptions about what classrooms should look like. There can be a temptation to fill spaces with colour and stimulus, yet many children tell us they learn best in environments that feel calm and predictable. It is a reminder that good design is not about adding more, but about creating spaces that are purposeful and supportive.
We now understand far more about the sensory impact of visuals, lighting, and noise, but there is also value in creating opportunities for children to pause and reset within a lesson. Quieter, low-stimulus areas, calm corners, and resources that can be accessed independently are all small but significant adjustments shaped by what children themselves have told us.
Underlying all of this is a shift in mindset. When we design spaces with learners in mind and genuinely listen to the voice of the child, the result is an environment that benefits everyone.
Education is, at its heart, about relationships. The spaces we create can make those relationships easier to build and sustain. As school leaders, it is worth asking whether our environments truly help children feel settled, valued, and ready to learn. When they do, we send a powerful message to every child who walks through the door: you belong here, you are understood here, and this is a place where you can thrive.