Adjusting classroom setups to accommodate for adequate spacing guidelines has been especially difficult for schools, due to space limitations, budget constraints, and other challenges. To ensure classrooms are effective schools have had to get creative. Let’s explore a few creative solutions for classroom space in schools.

Rearranging to Optimize Classroom Space

In some cases it may be possible to gain more space by rethinking the classroom setup. Here are a few strategies for reclaiming space from underutilized areas in the classroom.

• Do a room audit to determine which areas of the room are used the most often by students, and which are used less. As you do this, keep in mind which areas require more space based on the activities taking place there. An assessment like this can be especially helpful in classrooms for younger children or where multiple activities are taking place at once. Once you complete your assessment, rearrange the room to give more space to the more densely-used areas and less to the others. When you rearrange, try to put the most popular areas in opposite corners of the classroom to further increase the distance between groups of students.
• Remove bulky furniture from the room. Determine what furniture is the most necessary or useful, and what could be removed or replaced with something that takes up less space. For instance, bulky storage shelves could be replaced with more flexible options like baskets or bins that can be easily tucked away or rearranged as needed.
• Add room dividers or partitions. Where bulky furniture was previously providing separation between classroom areas, try implementing more space-efficient room dividers or partitions. Partitions help organize the layout of your classroom and promote social distancing while taking up very little square meterage. See the next section for ideas!

These ideas could help you find a bit more space in the classroom to accommodate better flow now and create a more efficient classroom for the long run.

Add Versare Room Dividers to Use Space More Effectively

Here at Versare we have several products that can help quickly make any space more effective for learning, including the following:

• Our Room Divider 360 is one of our most popular partitions, and is the perfect choice for creating separation in large spaces like gyms or auditoriums.
• Our series of QuickWall partitions are ideal for any space that needs to be set up, taken down, or adjusted quickly.
• Our line of Economical Room Dividers offer simple, easy separation for tighter budgets.

These products, along with our full line of room dividers and partitions, can help quickly turn non-instructional space into temporary classrooms or create separation anywhere it’s needed in the school building. All of our partitions are lightweight and easy to set up and take down. Many of our partitions also help absorb extraneous sound, which can help students and teachers focus on the task at hand.

Creatively Adapting Non-Instructional and Underused Spaces

Some schools have had to find additional space to use for student instruction. Gyms, auditoriums, cafeterias, media centres, and even outdoor spaces have been transformed into improvised classroom space.

Because these spaces weren’t built for student instruction though, it takes some work to turn them into useful classroom spaces. Teachers need more than desks and chairs to teach their students well. Flexible furniture, portable technology and other teaching tools, power sources for technology, and ways to create separation and improve focus are all important parts of creating a fruitful learning environment.

Incorporating Technology

One of the biggest issues with spacing students out more, especially when it means dividing them into multiple rooms, is the immediate need for more teachers. But as today’s students are tethered to devices and becoming used to remote learning, technology could come in handy here. Many schools have invested in technology this year to accommodate for distance learning, and much of that could be used in the school building as well.

For instance, one option could be to give students direct instruction in a larger room where they can spread out more (like a gym or auditorium), then split them up into different locations throughout the school to work independently using laptops or tablets.

If you are in need of tools for creative solutions for classroom space in your school, shop our online store or give us a call today on 09 570 3647.