Pentagon’s NEW Approach to Indoor Classroom Furniture

“Do you make any resources for inside the classroom?” you enquired. Well, since you asked…

We listened… and we are excited to be able to announce that the answer is now a definite YES!

The news is out - our Products Team have been working hard behind the scenes on a brand new range of beautiful, natural wooden modular school furniture for nurseries and primary schools, to help you create versatile and flexible learning spaces within the classroom.

At Pentagon we have been designing and creating innovative playground spaces for nurseries and primary schools for over 25 years. Many of the wonderful schools that we have worked with over the years have asked us if we can help them to improve their indoor classroom spaces too, but our focus has always been on the outdoor environment … until now

This is an exciting new step for us, and we hope you will love these new products as much as we do. Working in collaboration with schools and nurseries across the UK, our combined expertise gives us a unique ability to design products that we know will really help schools to deliver outstanding teaching, encouraging their pupils to thrive and achieve positive learning outcomes. And with demand for more flexible learning environments that make best use of available classroom space on the increase, we are delighted to let you know that our first Indoor School Furniture products are now available to order!

Welcome to our all-new Breakout Spaces, Art Easel and Stack & Sit Stools!

Our approach to designing classroom furniture has been led by our super-talented Product Designer, Kieran Meehan. Kieran has been working closely with teachers and EYFS leaders at our partner schools, taking time to ensure that the end products will deliver exactly what EYFS practitioners need them to do. 

“The original thought process behind the indoor products was to focus on flexibility and storage,” explains Kieran.

“When we first spoke to schools about going into the indoor market, these were the two stand-out objectives that they wanted to achieve in their fit out. And since then, they have been the two main features that we’ve tried to implement into each of the products, especially the flexibility element.”

The Stack & Sit Stools and Benches

The multi-purpose Stack & Sits are designed to create a versatile learning environment for pupils, whilst still enabling teachers to free up space in the classroom when they need more room to move.

Easy to assemble, they can be used for seating, stacking, storing and hands-in sorting! If purchased with the Art Easel Package, you can set them up with the Chalkboard or Whiteboard, laid and secured flat, to make a perfect low-level arts, crafts and tinkering table too!

Each stool has a stackable lid, top and base, so they can be stacked up and down to create both adult and child-height seating, allowing teachers and pupils to work alongside each other. They can be linked side-to-side and corner-to-corner for creative use of space, and then stacked away on top of each other as a space-saving solution!

But they’re not just for seating! Oh no! There’s more….

Dubbed ‘Cubes of Curiosity’ - lift off the lids to reveal great storage for books, toys, and other resources. The clear windows on each side allow children to see through to the contents and self-select what they want to investigate and explore next.

The cushions, available in natural green and grey calming colours, are removable from the lids. They allow little ones to kneel comfortably on the ground as they play and root around in the storage space for their chosen objects.

And there’s a surprise! Children can lift off the cushions to reveal a hidden specialist game-top engraved on the lid. With sorting sections, farmyard scenes and roads and pathways to follow, each one has a different option for engaging bright imaginations and immersing themselves in child-led play! 

“We loved the idea of stacking furniture as it meant teachers could easily move and stack them on top of one another, so that they could gain back some of the necessary floorspace,” said Kieran. “It also means that they can be used to create spaces that are unique to the consumer. You could give two schools the same items of furniture, and have them use them in completely different ways.”

They’re even fun and manageable for children to get involved taking on responsibility for tidy-up time too. We’ve heard from one of our partner schools that their Reception children have been willingly picking up their Stack & Sit Stools and stacking them away at the end of the day to tidy the space, completely unprompted from their teachers - well done to them!

The Art Easel

Next we have our spectacularly space-saving Art Easel - specially designed to provide a flexible, interactive, creative space for your Early Years pupils to develop their artistic flair and enjoy collaborative, investigative art sessions together in the classroom.

There are two back-to-back faces to this Art Easel - one large Chalkboard and one large Whiteboard - allowing children to work individually, in pairs or in small groups, developing their socio-emotional and conversational skills as they collaborate and have fun with art and mark-making.

Lift off the faces and there is a surprise here too! This Art Easel features integrated storage shelves for displaying pens, pencils, paint pots and more in an easily accessible place. It will support children to self-select, make their own choices for their designs, and learn to take responsibility for looking after their resources and tidying up after themselves.

The Chalkboard and Whiteboard are both designed to be easily unhooked, and fixed on top of the Stack & Sit products to create a low-level table-top, providing more flexible space for children to get to work. Secure wooden hooks allow you to lock them back into place again on the Art Easel.

Running along the top is an extra-handy, built-in, removable paper roll and paper ripper - so it’s easy for children to work out how to remove the used paper and pull down a fresh piece to work from.

The entire Art Easel sits on a separate rolling trolley, enabling you and your pupils to move it easily around the classroom and between learning zones. Fix it in place with lockable wheels, or even remove it from the trolley and slot it in on top of the Stack & Sits - the choice is yours!

The Art Easel is an exemplary resource for developing children’s fine motor skills in the classroom through writing, drawing and experimenting with different tools and mediums for making their mark. And the great thing is that it’s made entirely of wipe-clean materials - as with all of our indoor range - so it’s easy to keep it as clean and good as new after a lot of use, ready for the next day every day!   

Order Stack & Sits and the Art Easel via our Online Shop today! Comes with free delivery in just 2-4 weeks...

The Breakout Spaces

Looking to build a School Library? A cosy corner for shared story-telling, an afternoon nap at Nursery, or a quiet breakout corner for easy and immediate interventions, one to one sessions and smaller group work tasks? Do you want to make the most of an empty corridor outside of the classroom, and breathe life into previously unrecognised and under-used indoor spaces? Or would your classroom benefit from being split into more clearly defined zones for children to move around?

Our modular Breakout Spaces will help you to achieve just that. 

Launching in April, there will be two different package options accompanied with the Stack & Sits, they will enable you to create unique and distinct learning spaces within your chosen environment.

Beautifully crafted from a light shade of uplifting natural wood, this modular school furniture is designed to have minimal impact on your classroom themes with a calming, natural appearance that will blend seamlessly into your classroom without overly enclosing the space.

For the additional storage that classrooms often lack, each package features low-level storage units that invite children to self-select. Whether you prefer to keep resources neatly tidied away, or open for visual displays, the shelved units are mixed so that some are supplied with doors and some without - all options are on the cards!

Installed for you by a member of our expert team, we will help you to create your own bespoke-formation breakout space that suits your needs - and no more worries about having enough room to store all of your learning materials!

Would you like to be one of the first schools to receive a Pentagon Play Indoor Classroom package?

Enquire now about the package options and register your interest whilst  our skilled craftspeople are already hard at work getting them ready for you for their launch in April!

We’re open now for enquiries about each of the package options available, and as always, we’d love to hear from you!