Calling teachers...what does your ideal staffroom look like?

[giraffesarefab]

Our school is relocating their staffroom from a small and pokey room to a much bigger, brighter space. We (the pta) have been given some money to make the new staffroom really nice for the teachers, so what kind of things would you like in your staffroom?
Thanks for reading.

We have an electric urn. It means the water is always perfect tea-making temperature at all times. I love it.

Comfy chairs, plenty of small tables to put drinks on, a wipe clean floor near the tea and coffee making area, a microwave, a toaster and a cleaning up fairy who magics all the cups into the dishwasher.

In the real world.....somewhere to sit, somewhere to eat and a way of making a hot drink.

I second the electric boiler/ern idea. No waiting around for kettles and tea and coffee quickly made.

Somewhere to sit and eat so that you don't have to balance your lunch on your lap, nice mugs, lots of cutlery, and decent drinking glasses. That would make my day!!

A quiet area so those of us who need peace (even from colleagues!) can have 5 minutes to recharge.

We have a machine that dispenses instant boiling water and instant very cold water.

Comfy chairs but also dining type chairs that can be used with tables if you've got a hot meal.

Gin in the water cooler

Failing that, enough seats, a decent fridge, more than one microwave.....and actual proper height tables.

Surely it would be best to ask the teachers this - maybe set up a surveymonkey and ask the school to forward it on to them to complete.

A George Foreman grill or something similar would be good. Toasted sandwiches, paninis etc...some of our staff fry rashers on our one 😂

Lots of cutlery and plates. Dishwasher and fridge (a bigger fridge than you think you'll need).

A George Foreman grill or something similar would be good. Toasted sandwiches, paninis etc...some of our staff fry rashers on our one 😂

If we had people cooking bacon in our staff room, I would stop using it. I can’t bear the smell and it would permeate through the whole school.

More than one microwave. Nothing worse than a mile long queue to heat up your lunch when you're in a rush.

Which is fine, but not very different to people eating things like fish soups in the staffroom imo. The smell doesn't permeate through the school in my experience (and I'm not part of the rasher eating club, I'm not that into them). It's up to the staff themselves to police what the grill is used for.

And a definite yes to more than one microwave!

Planned well -

So cups cupboard - tea coffee - hot water- fridge for milk - area for biscuits

All the same seating so no them and us

Social message board and notices board - with calendar for the week

I joke about the fact the kids' school staffroom is the only one I've ever been in that has bloody scatter cushions! (I've been in a fair few over the years on supply)

Basically your priorities are - quick dispensing of hot water to make a drink so there's not a huge line as one kettle painfully boils batch of water after batch of water cos it's a bloody pain in the arse when you're waiting for the kettle knowing the breaktime clock is ticking down and you're going to have to drink it scalding hot in about 20 seconds by the time you're near the front and the kettle from hell actually boils.

More than one microwave.

Dining tables with chairs for those of us who sometimes have school dinners or have one every Wednesday because the cook does the best roast ever to avoid the inevitable gravy stains from drippage when balancing a tray on your lap.

Comfy chairs/sofas

A little radio to drown out the people who eat noisily

Air conditioning!

Water cooler.
And instant boil water thingy on the wall.
Dishwasher (x2 in our case, as we have a big staff)
Cake Friday.

Cake Friday

That's a given, is it not?

The best staffrooms I've been in have had a big table in the middle or one circle of chairs. Small groups of furniture encourages cliques.

Enough seats and tables, instant hot water, more than one microwave, a window, a radio

A social/relaxing area and a work area with plenty of charging points. Hot water on tap. Cold water on tap. Dishwasher (and a fairy to load and unload it!).

Ice cold water dispenser, boiling water dispenser, coffee/hot drinks machine, decent size fridge, microwave(s).
A few separate comfy seating areas, a few tables and chairs to eat lunch at, a balcony/terrace(!), a computer area....

We also had gifted to our staff a massage chair which is very popular!

A ban on students! My school insists on inviting them in if they knock, which is very annoying when you spend all day with primary kids and want your 30 minutes to relax (or just cram food down your throat and mark).

Fab ideas! Thank you so much, I'm making a list and will definitely see what we can do. Thanks everyone.