Inclusive design can make the building more intuitive. Changes in colour, materials, lighting, views and architectural features can help distinguish one part of a building from another. A pupil should not necessarily need to read a sign to know whether they are approaching the dining hall, science department or main entrance. The DfE’s Education Estates Strategy identifies clear wayfinding as part of its approach to inclusive school buildings. This is particularly relevant when refurbishing existing schools, where circulation routes may have evolved over decades. Extensions may have been added, rooms subdivided and entrances altered, leaving buildings with complicated layouts that are difficult for new pupils and visitors to understand.


The connection with behaviour


Circulation design can also influence behaviour. Congestion creates opportunities for conflict. A narrow route outside a busy classroom, for example, can become crowded when one lesson finishes and another begins. Pupils may have nowhere to stand without blocking the route, while staff may struggle to supervise movement. Designing circulation routes with sufficient capacity, visibility and passive supervision can reduce some of these problems.


The DfE’s design guidance already identifies behaviour and pastoral care as considerations in school design, including entrance and circulation areas that allow safe and comfortable movement and the positioning of staff spaces to support passive supervision.


This does not mean that architecture can solve behavioural issues. It does mean that the physical environment can either make supervision and movement easier or make them harder.


Existing buildings present the biggest challenge


For new schools, these principles can be incorporated during the earliest stages of planning. Existing buildings are more difficult. Many schools operate in buildings designed for different patterns of teaching, different pupil numbers and different expectations around accessibility. Corridors may be narrow, circulation routes may be confusing and there may be little opportunity to create new spaces without taking area away from teaching accommodation.


That makes targeted adaptation important. The DfE’s Inclusive education estates guidance is aimed not only at new construction but at those planning, managing, maintaining and delivering education estates. It sets out practical adaptations to buildings and outdoor spaces rather than limiting inclusion to new-build projects. For schools with limited capital budgets, this creates an opportunity to consider relatively focused improvements. Better signage, acoustic treatments, lighting controls, seating locations, door hardware and improved visibility may all form part of a wider accessibility programme. Larger interventions could include reorganising circulation routes or creating dedicated support and inclusion spaces.


The important point is that these measures should be based on the actual problems experienced within a particular building.


A space worth designing properly


The renewed attention being given to inclusive school estates does not make the corridor more important than the classroom. It recognises that pupils do not spend their entire school day sitting behind a classroom door.


They arrive through an entrance, move through corridors, queue, change lessons, visit toilets, use communal spaces, climb stairs and move between indoor and outdoor areas.


Every one of those transitions forms part of the school environment.


The DfE’s new design standards, published in February 2026, now provide the employer’s requirements for school and college buildings and outdoor environments, supported by a technical manual and pattern book. The department has also published standardised designs demonstrating how the requirements can be applied to primary, secondary and special schools.


For designers and project teams, that means circulation should be considered alongside classrooms, halls and specialist spaces rather than left as residual space between them.


In summary


A well-designed corridor does not simply move pupils through a building efficiently. It can make the school easier to understand, quieter to navigate, safer to supervise and more comfortable to use. The next generation of school buildings may therefore need to stop treating circulation as leftover floor area. The route between classrooms is part of the learning environment too.


Autumn 2026 issue 4185 21


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