Montessori Practical Life Area Package in Solid Beech

A contract specification package for the practical life corner, which needs a specific set of low units and a water station that most suppliers do not make. Built heavier than the domestic range, marked to BS EN 1729 and supplied with the certificates a setting needs.

Nursery and school specification is a different job from a bedroom. Furniture in a setting takes twenty children a day rather than one, gets cleaned with something stronger than a damp cloth, and has to carry a size mark under BS EN 1729 so an inspector can see at a glance that a four year old is sitting at the right height. Everything in this part of the range is built heavier, finished harder, marked to the standard and supplied with the paperwork a setting needs for its own file.

Specification

• Dimensions: table heights at size marks 0, 1 and 2, chairs to match
• Age range: 18 months to 7 years depending on the size mark
• Material: solid steamed beech, which is the timber most school furniture has been made from for a century because it dents rather than splinters, in a contract grade with a harder lacquer
• Finish: one finish batch, wipeable with a standard setting disinfectant
• Load rating: chairs tested to 110kg and 100,000 cycles, tables to 80kg
• Standards: BS EN 1729 parts 1 and 2 for educational furniture, with the size mark on every piece, plus BS EN 71 part 3 on the finish
• Edges and fixings: every exposed edge rounded to a 3mm radius, every fixing recessed and capped, and no pinch point anywhere a hand goes
• Assembly: flat packed, about a day for a room with two people
• Weight: approximately 123.1 kilograms in total
• Contents: one low water station with a drainage tray, two practical life shelf units, one low table and two chairs, one drying rack, one apron rail
• Size marks: every chair and table carries the BS EN 1729 size mark
• Cleaning: the lacquer is tested against the common setting disinfectants
• Documentation: conformity certificates, a fire certificate and a cleaning schedule
• Lead time: 4 weeks, and we hold the batch for repeat orders
• Terms: 30 day account available for settings and schools

In the box

• One low water station with a drainage tray
• Two practical life shelf units
• One low table and two chairs
• One drying rack
• One apron rail
• Anti tip restraints for every tall unit
• Conformity and fire certificates for your file
• A cleaning and inspection schedule
• Spare caps, glides and a hex key

Assembly and safety

Flat packed with a hex key and printed instructions. An anti tip restraint is in the box and it is not optional on this piece. Furniture tip overs injure a serious number of small children every year in this country and every one of them is preventable with two screws. If you cannot drill the wall, tell us and we will send the freestanding ballast kit instead at no charge.

How long it lasts

Most families buy this for one stage and then move on, and that is fine. It holds its value better than almost anything else in a child's room because it is solid timber with no printed decoration to date it, and we run a buy back on our own pieces at up to 40 per cent, refinish them and sell them as second life stock, which is the honest version of a sustainability page.