The Schoolyard I’d Like: an ideas competition for Australian school children ages 12 to 17
Secondary students desire restorative and visually attractive schoolyards that offer opportunities to experience agency and social connection
Although parks and green spaces offer respite from stress and support adolescents’ mental health, “there are few outdoor places that tweens and teenagers can easily claim as obvious spaces of their own.” Because adolescents spend time outside in their schoolyards daily, it is important to consider how the design of schoolyards meets youth’s preferences for restoration and well-being. However, current schoolyard design practices generally prioritize minimizing risk and cost—not adolescents’ perceptions and preferences. This study investigated the restorative capacity of schoolyards to help students recover from stress and support overall well-being, as perceived by students.
Secondary students in grades seven to 12 in city in Australia were invited to participate in a schoolyard design competition called “The Schoolyard I’d Like.” The students were asked to describe how they would transform their schoolyard to reflect their “vision of the perfect schoolyard space.” A total of 38 students (ages 12-17) submitted online entries. This included two group entries submitted by teachers, with the others being submitted by individual students. The students attended six different secondary schools, including two private (an Anglican and Islamic school) and one public school that primarily served students with disabilities. Student submissions consisted of a digitally illustrated poster and a 500-word written description of their ideal schoolyard. The posters and written descriptions were analyzed through qualitative thematic analysis to identify student schoolyard design priorities through a framework based on restorative theories of attention restoration theory (ART), stress reduction theory (SRT) and relational restoration theory (RRT). Collected quantitative data consisted of student age, grade, sex, postcode and school, which were summarized descriptively. The majority of students resided in medium-density urban or suburban areas with above-average household incomes.
Overall, student submissions revealed a “mismatch between the schoolyards that students want and the schoolyards students have” and “raised the question of why student place-based needs aren’t being prioritized in current school ground designs.” Analysis revealed three main themes focused on beauty, agency and social connection. Findings around the theme beauty were focused on the importance of the attractiveness of the schoolyard to create positive, restorative experiences. Important aspects included the use of attractive colors and welcoming and relaxing spaces. Students also prioritized nature in their schoolyard design, including a preference for calming organic forms and natural landscape features to support their emotional needs. Features included the use of natural materials, wildlife-attracting gardens and water elements. The finding agency centered upon students’ desire to direct their schoolyard experiences. “In contrast to teacher-driven classroom structures, the schoolyard was conveyed as a place where students had the social and physical freedom to be themselves.” Design features that demonstrated agency and student choice included oversized elements that provided a sense of escape as well as small, hidden spaces that offered refuge and retreat. Student designs addressed a range of ages and abilities, including settings for socializing, physical activity and imaginative play. Females tended to incorporate a greater diversity of settings in their designs. Students also valued sustainable design practices such as recycling bins and native plant gardens. The theme social connection highlighted students’ priorities around social interaction, peer relationships and school community values. Designs included communal gathering areas, hidden spaces to socialize and buddy benches for students looking to make friends. These spaces emphasized the “capacity of green spaces to promote social restoration processes.” Further, while schoolyard designs included traditional features (such as running tracks, ball courts), students linked fewer well-being benefits to these spaces compared to spaces that provided for more sedentary and social behaviors.
The study reveals a number of insights into the ideal schoolyards of secondary students that offer escape from the stressors and routines of the school day, while enabling restoration through beauty, agency and social connection. The researchers conclude that “the spatial diversity and functional complexity that characterized student schoolyard visions provide sharp contrast to the bland uniformity and low-risk, low-cost priorities that traditionally characterize outdoor environments at secondary schools.” Youth involvement in schoolyard design through participatory and co-design practices should be encouraged to optimize the well-being benefits afforded by time outdoors during the school day.
Citation
Leigh, G., Muminovic, M., Davey, R., (2025). The Schoolyard I’d Like: an ideas competition for Australian school children ages 12 to 17. Children's Geographies
