Loo art for student wellbeing!

Cessnock students have turned their school bathrooms into works of art as part of a new community wellbeing project.

The Confident Cubicles project involved 20 schools across the Cessnock network, 851 litres of paint and support from the Cessnock Men's Shed and Bunnings.

The former principal of Stanford Merthyr Infants School, Anne Carr, who oversaw her school's involvement, said the project involved the students designing and painting brightly coloured motifs and positive messages for panels and toilet doors in school bathrooms.

“It might seem a strange place for that kind of art, but school bathrooms have always been places where students have hung out and felt confident in talking to their mates,” Ms Carr said. “In that context the project makes perfect sense.”

The idea came from a project in the United States spotted by local Department of Communities and Justice Senior Project Officer Melanie Mackie, who, with colleagues, adapted it from a staff program to being a student-led initiative.

“The local Cessnock community had identified mental health, particularly in young people, as being a priority in the area and I thought that a youth-led project would be a great way to promote a positive selfimage and lead to a greater sense of wellbeing,” Ms Mackie said.

Mount View High School teacher Jude Willis said school toilets tended to be a place where students escaped to when they had problems. She said: “We thought it would be a very positive and uplifting thing for some of our students, especially when they tend to run and hide in the toilets,” she said.

Reagan, a Year 2 student at Stanford Merthyr Infants School, said she thought the project would be very beneficial to the students: “If we are having a down day, we can pick ourselves up by looking at the paintings on the toilet door.”

Year 10 student at Mount View High School, Phoebey, was involved in the project painting her works on the wooden door panels. She explained: “I want people to have that emotional connection to something that I've done.”

Cessnock Public School Year 5 student, Abby, said: “Some kids get really emotional and a bathroom is a place where they can get some alone time, so it needs to look nice.”

By the end of the project, 295 timber frames were assembled, 851 litres of paint were used, and 20 schools installed the decorated door frames in toilets used by about 6,000 students. The University of Newcastle is monitoring the program to evaluate its impact on improving students' sense of wellbeing.