Their new ‘calm classrooms’ are different to traditional school classrooms and have been designed and created by a team of professional child therapists, based on research which shows that children learn best in a calm, comfortable environment where they are not surrounded by noise, bright colours and harsh lighting. The emphasis of the new design is on neutral colours, comfortable seating, ambient lighting and a feeling of space. Rachael Cox, Head of Eton End said: “Since I joined the school back in September, I have been conducting a listening exercise involving children, parents and staff, looking at how we can improve the school environment and helping me to understand what they liked and what frustrated them about the school. When I spoke to the children about their learning environment, the thing they wanted to change most of all was the chairs. It sounds like small thing, but it was obviously a big thing for them. It made me go back and completely re-think how we organise our classrooms and learning spaces. I wanted to create an environment where our children were comfortable and could concentrate on learning. “Children will always achieve their best when they have a sense of emotional and psychological safety as well as being physically comfortable. Our school classroom design and furnishings have not really changed much for centuries and it is time to stop, think about the world beyond the school gates and create environments which inspire and support pupils to develop the skills they need in the twenty-first century.” The classrooms were put designed and put together with the help of a team of specialist child psychologists from TPC Therapy based in Cheshire.