Buying school furniture Australia for secondary and primary school comes with a lot of challenges. One of these challenges is proper sizing of the furniture. A set of chairs for infants school classes will not be suitable for a grade 6 pupil. If you want to find out more about different sizes of school furniture to ensure you buy the right sizes for your school, this guide will help you out.
Sizing definitions
It is important to know some of the terms and phrases used to clarify different sizes of furniture before we talk about the sizing of educational furniture. By understanding these phrases and terms, you will be able to purchase furniture in the correct sizes.
Popliteal height
This refers to the correct height of the seat for a student. It is sometimes known as stool height. This height measures the distance from the ground to the back of the knees when someone is seated. If someone is seated normally, with their lower legs vertical, thighs horizontal, and their feet flat on the floor, it is this seating position that is measured to give the seat the popliteal height.
It is important to note that the popliteal height isn’t the same as the sitting height. The distance between the top of the head and the floor when seated is the sitting height.
Seated working height
The seating working height is the correct height of a table. When someone sits down with their lower arms horizontal and upper arm vertical, the distance from the individual’s elbow to the floor is measured to determine the sitting working height. It is important to measure this height before buying your furniture from your school furniture suppliers.
Stature
This is the distance from the top of an individual’s head to the floor while they are standing.
The standing working height
If you want to buy a table that will be used by students when they are standing such as in a laboratory, you should be aware of this height. This height is measured when someone stands at the table with their lower arms horizontal and upper arm vertical. The distance between the person’s elbow and the floor is then measured to find the standing working height.
Primary school furniture sizes
With the above terms defined, it is now the right time to turn our attention to different furniture sizes in a different educational context. We will start with primary school. The height range, stature range, table height, standing table height and chair height figures are recommended as the following.
For children between three to four years, the popliteal height range should be between 250 and 280mm, the stature range should be between 960 and 1150 mm, the standing table height should be 590 mm, the table height should be 460 mm and the chair height should be 260mm.
When buying school furniture Australia for pupils between 4 to 6 years, the popliteal height range should be between 280 and 315mm, the stature range should be between 1080 and 1210 mm, the standing table height should be 710mm, the table height should be 53mm while the chair height should be 310mm.
