Educational & Classroom Furniture Buyer's Guide
Places of learning should inspire and uplift.
Classroom Furniture has come a long way in recent years. Improved materials and furniture-making techniques have dramatically widened your choice of educational furniture - you're only limited by your imagination!
At The Contract Chair Company, we provide furniture for all education establishments requiring full-size classroom furniture. Such furniture would be typically suited for anyone who is aged 14 or over. A standard school chair would have a seat height of about 460mm. A desk or school table would have a height of around 760mm.
Educational & Classroom Furniture
Classroom chairs
Our modern classroom furniture is beautifully designed, and is available in a myriad of colours. Modern plastics such as polycarbonates and polypropylenes are ideal for chairs, and with falling costs these materials are helping us to transform places of learning.
Browse our range of plastic chairs
Modern seating can convey exactly the image that is required and can be combined with any kind of desk. (Educational desking information can be found below).
Whatever the style of classroom chair you select, it should be comfortable, stable and fit for purpose. Chairs from reputable sources will be all of these, although there is always space for common sense in the decision process. Further advice can be obtained from FIRA (Furniture Industry Research Association).
For more specific requirements, other seating solutions are available. Benches provide an option for extra pupils to be accommodated on occasion, although they tend to be less comfortable and may encourage fidgeting.
Browse our bench, beam and cluster furniture
Educational & Classroom Furniture
Remember that chairs can be linked together:
View our Kuadra linking device
Educational & Classroom Furniture
Classroom desks and tables
Classroom desks and classroom tables can be any shape of size. They can suit individuals, pairs of pupils, or whole teams. They can be linkable, have cable-management features and be finished in any colour. They can be computer friendly with cable-management features, or plain, simple and classic.
Educational & Classroom Furniture
Desking Information
Desk surfaces have also been improved with new materials, vitally important to resist both graffiti and destructive pupils. We believe that amongst the best of these are the new 'solid core laminates'. Rather than a core of chipboard with a separate laminate top and edge glued to it, the whole table top is a solid material. As well as being more resistant, the top can also be slimmer - and therefore more attractive.
Click to view a solid core laminate top
Classroom desks and tables need to be particularly stable and study. A leg at each corner rather than a central column ensures that a desk will not overturn when a pupil sits on a corner of it. Metal frames are particularly appropriate and can be supplied in most colours and finishes. A painted surface is best value, with powder-coating also a popular choice.
For short-term use (for example in a lecture hall), tablets are a good alternative to desks.
For more specialised use, tables can come in all shapes and sizes. They can have wheels, and be foldable for storage. This is useful for areas where uses overlap, for example in meeting and training rooms, or conference areas.
Government advice states that classroom furniture should comply with the European Standard EN1729 (which follows BS4875 and 5873), which is for educational desks, tables and chairs for use in UK schools, and we believe it is the most appropriate standard for classroom furniture. It's split into Part 1 (for size and dimensions of products) and Part 2 (for strength and stability).
