School blinds

Looking at the board as well as the window

A classroom needs comfortable daylight and blinds that work well for everyone using it. We can help schools consider glare on boards, ease of use and the safety requirements that matter in a busy learning environment.

In most classrooms the real challenge is not that the room is bright. It is that a bright window sits beside or opposite the whiteboard or screen, so half the class squints. Before we talk fabrics, we like to stand where the pupils sit and see where the light lands at different times of day.

That tells us whether you need a fabric that softens glare while keeping the room light enough to read by, or a darker one for the odd lesson with a projector. Sometimes the answer is different blinds on different windows in the same room.

Choosing a blind that copes with a school day

Blinds in schools get pulled, swung on and caught with bags. Simple mechanisms with fewer moving parts tend to last better, so roller blinds are a common starting point for classrooms, with vertical blinds worth a look for wider glazing, where each louvre can angle to let light in while cutting glare. Slatted blinds give fine control but have more parts to knock about, so we would talk through where they are realistic.

Some ranges offer wipe-clean finishes, which suit rooms with painting, food or sticky hands. Whether a particular fabric is wipe-clean, and how well it copes with repeated cleaning, depends on the range, so ask us and we will check before you commit.

Halls, corridors and nursery rooms

• Halls often have tall or high-level windows. Reach matters here, because a blind nobody can operate gets left down. Motorised or pole-operated options may be worth asking about.
• Nursery and early years rooms need the most careful look at controls and at where cots, mats and furniture sit in relation to the window. Rest areas may want a darker fabric than the main play space.
• Offices and staff rooms can follow the same thinking as our office blinds.

Cord safety around children

Looped cords and chains can be a hazard for young children, so it helps to plan this carefully from the start in a school. Keep all cords and chains tucked up out of reach, use the safety devices that fix them to the wall or frame, and keep furniture away from blinds so nobody can climb to the control. Cordless and motorised blinds remove the loop altogether and are well worth considering for younger age groups. BS EN 13120 is the UK standard for the safety of internal blinds. Our pages on child safety and child-safe blind choices set this out in more detail.

Working around the school calendar

A measure and a fitting have to fit around lessons, pupils and security arrangements. We know that timing is a big part of the job for any school or nursery. Whether work can be done in the holidays, out of hours or room by room is something to ask us when you get in touch, and we will talk it through before anything is agreed.

What to tell us at the start

A little detail saves time. Tell us how many rooms and windows are involved, the age range of the children, whether the windows have restrictors or heating units beneath them, and whether any rooms need to be darkened. If your site has particular requirements for blinds, tell us what they are and we will happily check what is suitable and what documents are available for the product you like.

Want a second pair of eyes on the classroom light? Book a free measure and we will look at the windows with you and provide a quotation before you commit.