Keeping schools and colleges tidy and organised when there is so much to store can be complicated. You need to provide access to resources and belongings, but you also need them to be kept tidied away to prevent distractions or potentially serious health and safety issues. Here are our top recommendations for storage solutions in schools and colleges.

Lockers

Let’s start with the obvious. Lockers are a school and college essential – they provide a personal space for students to store their belongings, saving them from having to lug around a whole day’s worth of textbooks, sports kit,s and outdoor clothing. Without lockers, your hallways and classrooms would be blocked up with winter coats, multiple bags, and stacks of books – which make it easy for people to trip and fall, and difficult to evacuate in an emergency. Make sure the lockers you choose are of good quality and pay attention to materials and construction techniques – this way you will be able to keep your lockers in place for years and years with a minimum of repair or maintenance.

Library

The library is essentially an entire room dedicated to temporary and long-term school storage. As such, your storage solutions need to be fairly heavy-duty, and extremely stable and hard-wearing – think about how students behave and how much damage or injury could be caused by a shelving unit toppling over. You can make the most out of your library space with some clever storage items – good quality bays, extensions, shelf dividers, and racking are all readily available and can be deployed to great success.

Drawers

In the classroom, particularly for schools that cater to younger students, you can use drawer units to great effect for keeping the room tidy and organised. Students can be allocated their own drawer to keep work or personal belongings in, or you can simply have drawers dedicated to different uses: paper, pens, crafting materials, etc. Bring a bit of colour into the classroom by opting for brighter plastic drawers – they’re robust enough to handle heavy wear and the colours can liven up your space a bit.

Cupboards

For other in-room supplies, you need a cupboard. Opt for a lockable version if you want to restrict access (it’s a good idea for chemicals, Bunsen burners, scissors, etc.) and get a cupboard of sufficient size to store everything you need: textbooks, stationery, notepads, and the like.

Charging lockers

If your school has deployed tablets or laptops as a learning tool, then you absolutely need charging lockers. These are lockable compartments (like a standard locker), with the added feature that you can charge your devices while they are stored. They are a great way of ensuring that equipment is stored safely at the end of class/the day and powered up and ready for use next time.

Coat hooks

A simple and effective storage solution, wall-mounted coat hooks let students store their coats, hats, scarves and jackets safely out of the way. Keeping these items with them throughout class can become a health and safety issue for staff and students alike – they can get in the way if hung over the back of chairs, causing them to tip over, or they can block up walkways and become a trip/slip hazard as well as making evacuation difficult in an emergency.

Author Bio: First Mats started life as safety matting specialists, but have since expanded to become a complete industrial and commercial supplies company. The focus of First Mats is to provide safety-focused products that improve the wellbeing of staff through quality approved products, backed up by extensive knowledge. www.firstmats.co.uk