Staff room etiquette

[SpringSprangSprung]

Can you describe your staff room atmosphere please. Ours is, I think,very bizarre but I don't have any actual experience of anything different. Our staffroom looks more like an office space - we all have our own desks and computers, no comfortable chairs.
Most worringly, and difficult for me, is that we are expected to maintain a strict code of silence so the atmosphere is more like a library than my idea of a staffroom. One of my colleagues routinely complains about the noise and has even challenged colleagues for wearing shoes with noisy heels!
I do respect that colleagues are entitled to their different views but I am trying to move to a situation where they also respect mine :)

[Roshbegosh]

That is really weird. Are you in a nunnery? This is where you sit for coffee and lunch? No, it is not normal at all.

[SpringSprangSprung]

Rosh - no, not a nunnery :). We do have a separate canteen but it would be frowned upon to be in there for any reason other than lunch. We are expected to be at our desks when we are not in the classroom.
The principle complainant, who insists on silence, is actually someone in my own section who I get on with very well. I don't want to personalise the problem and I would like the two of us to go to our head together and put pressure on him to find a solution, like another more social area, so that we can meet the needs of everyone.
What I do find slightly uncomfortable is the notion that I am somehow a less serious teacher because I have a more creative, communicative approach to my work.

[StupidFlanders]

That would be horrible, ours is the opposite. We are all great friends and our staffroom is always really loud and full of laughs.

[vvviola]

OP - that is exactly how the staff room where I worked (briefly) was set up. Except I was working as an English language assistant & the school was a junior high school in Japan (where you had to bow to the principal and apologise for leaving early if there was anyone else left in the staff room).

I don't suppose your school was set up by a Japanese principal?

[TheNebulousBoojum]

It is bizarre, but are they trying to make the staffroom dual-function?
If they are trying to combine PPA and non-contact time with breaks and lunches, it doesn't work.
We do our PPA in an empty classroom, or other vacant space.
Either way, there should be an area with comfy chairs and a more relaxed atmosphere as well.

[Silvermoonsparkling]

"The principle complainant". And you're a teacher OP? Oh dear.

[MajorDivvy]

Oh blimps that sounds awful OP!!

Ours has loads of comfy looking (though actually not that comfy) chairs, three computers at the side, 4 coffee tables joined together and 4 'normal' tables joined together. Said tables are always covered in random paperwork and other crap things so you can't usually work at them. The atmosphere is always one of laughter, rude jokes and swearing a plenty!

[AnOeufUniversallyEggnowledged]

In my previous school having an area like that would have been really useful as our classrooms were rarely free when we were and the staffroom wasnt set up as a working area. However, providing 100+ desks would have clearly taken up more room that the school didnt have.

At my current school, the staffroom is only really used at break or lunch as our classrooms are usually free when we are.

At both places, the staffroom is a comfortable place full of dirty coffee cups and old copies of the TES.

[MajorDivvy]

Stupid autocorrect! I meant 'blimey' not 'blimps'

[SpringSprangSprung]

So sorry Silver - am just a humble maths teacher who didn't check her predictive text. Bet you've never made a mistake though! :)

[PollyEthelEileen]

We have two staff rooms, one for working in and the other for R&R.

[marinagasolina]

Ours is fairly relaxed and friendly, definitely not silent! There have been a few arguments heated debates across it in the past that have made me wish it was a library-like area though!

[lpy101]

My new school doesn't even have a staff room!!

Last place had a comfy staff room and a staff work room.

[EvilTwins]

Ours only really gets used at break & lunchtime. Comfy chairs and our pigeon holes but no work areas. Most use classroom or dept office in frees. We have a lady who serves coffee & tea at breaktime and those little packs of biscuits you sometimes get on courses (3 biscuits per pack- too many. 2 would do, but leaving one would be rude)

[dizzyhoneybee]

Scruffy chairs, a fridge, microwave and dishwasher, lots of chat and sometimes biscuits and cakes - the table is loaded with goodies when OFSTED are in!

[Rosesforrosie]

My last place also had a work room and a staff common room.

Which was huge and had lovely sofas and a beautiful view.

Current school most staff have offices so no staff work room, and the common room is a place for a chat and a relax although the sofas are less comfortable.

[manicinsomniac]

wow, how very weird!

We have a staff work room but there's no rule of silence in it, as long as people can get on with their work.
Then we have the main staff room which is for pigeon holes, meeting and short socialising periods, the staff sitting room for relaxing in, the staff kitchen for coffee and chat and the staff dining room for more coffee and chat.