How to Choose Outdoor Seating for Schools and Other Public Areas

When working with children such as at Highwire, you have to be mindful of sharp objects, and this is particularly important when choosing furniture for your outdoor areas.

In our previous gardening articles (learning with gardening, and projects with gardening) we discussed more practical ways of doing things, but in this article we will talk roughly about what to choose, and how to fit it into your outdoor areas well.

Outdoor Furniture

Exterior furniture is now every bit as flexible and stylish as the furnishings you pick for your residence, indicating you could entirely customize your yard area to match your personal preferences and requirements, as long as it is safe.

There are great deals of choices to think about – the right option will be an extension of your interior design yet resilient adequate to weather the components. Purchase the most effective top quality furnishings you could manage, as well as pick top quality materials over of-the-moment layouts.

School outdoor furnishings is placed on the playgrounds, on the paths, under trees and various other strategic locations within the school’s outside area. The outside furniture offers relaxing, playing and hanging and social factors for the students. Various institutions have various demands for outside furniture. A college calls for furnishings that provides durability, is useful, is suitable for the particular age group which looks terrific.

Every garden is distinct, so take into consideration the format as you select your furnishings. Consider where the sunlight hits and also whether there are any kind of large trees that will generate pollen or shed leaves that could become frustrating.

Finally, bear in mind any kind of useful factors to consider that may have an impact on the kind of garden furniture that works ideal.

Space

Similarly you would when planning your indoor living space, determine how much room you have and make certain you have enough so furnishings fits comfortably and people have space to move.

Storage

We constantly advise saving your furnishings inside throughout the cold weather in a garage or garden shed. If you’re short on space, select items that can be folded as well as packed away or buy some hefty tarpaulin to cover and protect your furniture if you plan to let it remain outdoors.

Decking

If your furnishings will certainly be on your patio area as opposed to directly on concrete tiles or grass, make certain it’s robust enough to stand up to furniture being dragged as well as moving.

Should you choose rattan furniture?

The main problem with choosing something like aluminium framed rattan garden furniture is that it’s probably too nice to be around children. Realistically at the price point, and given that it comes with cushions as well (that children are likely to stain), it makes more sense to save this for your own garden or patio area. The aluminium makes it weatherproof which is good to leave it outside, and the UV stabilized weave does make it colourfast, but the handwoven nature of rattan also means that small bits of dirt can get stuck in between the gaps and require cleaning, which you may realise is quite common with children around in schools!

Even though it comes in a range of sofa sets that would be great for a family environment, I still think it’s not really appropriate to schools or public areas. There are also issues with it becoming damaged if left unattended, and you never know what will happen with young children around. Perhaps an older school would find it more appropriate. The video below has some more info on weatherproof rattan:

Don’t forget that you can also check out our resources page, or go and browse the new INSET page for more info.

Here are some references for the article that you could check out:
http://www.fairfordbase.org.uk/indoor-furniture-news-conservatories-updates-march-2018/
http://www.theearlybirddesign.co.uk/
https://www.sapcotegc.co.uk/garden-furniture/rattan/
http://www.schools.norfolk.gov.uk/view/NCC105915
/140828-foundation-phase-outdoor-learning-handbook-en.pdf
http://www.wirralresource.co.uk/garden-furniture/
http://www.edinburgh.gov.uk/info/20160/outdoor_learning