Schoolchildren can't squeeze into their chairs

Following from the news this summer that school uniforms are being made up to adult size 18, schools now need to order larger items of furniture to accommodate children who have outgrown tables and chairs designed to meet the needs of 1960s pupils.

This has been highlighted in a report from the British Educational Suppliers Association (BESA), which studied 1500 children and found ‘significant’ variation in sizes. Furniture now needs to accommodate taller children, as well as those who are heavier than their 1960s counterparts. Indeed, some pupils are so large that they cannot fit into standard school furniture.

General director of the BESA Dominic Savage says: “The average child today is very different to a child in the 1960s, which is the last time children were actually measured for determining measures of furniture. Children are likely to be spending thousands of hours on chairs and at desks where their posture is poor and the potential for damage to backs is great. The report has recommended new standard sizing for school furniture that the government should adopt.

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