Children’s Writing Position Guidelines
High quality research that has been conducted over the last 25 years suggests a handful of simple measures that can be implemented to improve children's writing positions. The most important are shown below and involve the redesign of our classroom furniture.
Sloping table tops
• With a slope of 10 – 20 degrees, most people will have a perfect posture for writing and reading.
• And what’s more the book and paper would be almost at the right angle to the line of vision.
Higher Chairs
• Chairs have been made lower and lower to try to achieve the perfect angle between the body and the spine at a time when pupils have been growing taller and taller.
• The lower the seat, the worse the angle of sitting. The rule of thumb is that chairs should be at least one third of our body height.
• So height-adjustable chairs and tables would fit the bill perfectly.
Please see popular products below:
Higher Tables
• When you lean forward to write, your elbow should be in contact with the surface of the table.
• For most of us, that means having the table top 20 or 30cm higher than they are in most conventional furniture.
Physiotherapists, ergonomic and health specialists agree that a good posture is not just the key to skeletal and muscular health, but also a stimulus for concentration. This increased awareness has led to the new European Standard EN1729 being created to set out dimensions for school furniture based on size marks and extra heights for improved posture.
Height compliant furniture has the benefit of increased pupil satisfaction and likely improved educational outcome over time. Aware of the fact that between the ages of 5 to 16 children are likely to spend around 15,000 hours sitting down, we have embraced the legislation ensuring that nearly all of our furniture is height compliant to EN1729. Some furniture ranges, shown below, comply not only with height aspects of EN1729 but also recommendations as to lumbar support, back dimensions, seat shape and design to remove pressure points etc. Some of these ranges also offer height adjustability ensuring that every individual can work in complete comfort and providing ultimate flexibility in the classroom.
Please see popular products below:
Access Height Adjustable Tables
Fully Welded 1200 x 600 Rectangular Tables - Rounded MDF Edge
These are just a few ways to improve the writing position. At Springfield, we offer a comprehensive design and planning service to help you and your children get the most out of your learning environment. For advice, recommendations and a free no obligation quote, give us a call on 0117 972 9320.
