The Challenge of All-Day-School |VS

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A multifaceted learning environment by VS for an all-day school: with seating elements from the Lounge and Shift+ Landscape series, the Puzzle free-form table and PantoSwing-LuPo pupil chairs

Here, we want to show you how flexible furniture and multifunctional room concepts can positively change schools. So that all-day schooling isn’t a stopgap, but an opportunity to redesign and improve schools for everyone.

All-Day School: What is it actually?

All-day schooling is about looking after pupils in the primary stage and secondary stage I for longer than is the case in standard schools, which usually end before lunch.

In compulsory all-day schools, lessons and leisure time are linked rhythmically, the children are provided with a hot lunch, often stay until 4 or 5 o’clock and attendance is mandatory.
By contrast, attendance at open all-day schools is voluntary. Compulsory education is largely in the mornings; after a communal lunch, there is usually supervised homework and a leisure offering.

Unlike an after-school care centre, all-day schools have a comprehensive educational mandate and don’t just offer childcare in the afternoons.

All-day school in figures
Source: 2nd GaFöG report of the federal government

73%

of primary schools in Germany offered all-day services in 2023. In 2006, the figure was 23%.

56%

of primary school children attended all-day school in 2023. In 2006, the figure was 18%.

300,000

additional places must be created by the time the legal entitlement comes into full effect in 2029/2030 in order to meet the demand for all-day care.

A teacher explains something to a girl at the free-form table Puzzle on PantoSwing-LuPo students' and teachers' chairs by VS

Setting a Good Example

Today, model schools with all-day offerings are learning landscapes in which children work and eat, play and study, paint and make music, do crafts and build, read and surf in digital worlds - or simply chill.

A good example of this is the Grundschule auf dem Süsteresch primary school, winner of the German Schools Prize. Go here to find out how the school in Schüttorf, Lower Saxony, has turned itself from a crumbling old building into a prize-winning all-day school.

What this needs: good ideas – and easily moveable furniture that is suitable for multiple uses. A classroom, a craft room, a school hall or a corridor can thus be divided into various zones.

Some Furniture Can Do More

Just standing around? We demand more of furniture! Because furniture not only changes rooms, it also creates rooms – especially if it can be tidied away, adapted or used in a different way as required. And this is how existing buildings can keep up with new demands.
For example, multi-functional rooms offer:

Ergonomic seating that can be quickly stacked away and converted
Tables for individual and group work that can be easily moved and regrouped as required
Mobile room dividers that separate the classroom into different zones, but can also be used to display material
Mobile elements with storage space that allow tools to be quickly accessed and put away - which also serve as room dividers
Variable modules for playing close to the floor
Soft, modular elements for quiet times lying down and more postural variety
Flexible board systems for presentation
Mobile computer workstations and digital boards for media work

Naturally, each element and their arrangement must be sturdy, safe and space-saving, and be as noise-reducing and sustainable as possible.

A girl is lying on her stomach on a stack of Stapelstein stones from the FloorFriends series by VS

Developing Potentials

What is school supposed to achieve nowadays? And how? There are many answers to these questions. There is agreement that: Teacher-centred learning is passé, creative thinking and cooperation are more important than accumulating knowledge. This means that new forms of learning are required.
All-day schools in particular allow more time for diverse and entertaining educational approaches. Their goal is to develop individual potentials and skills and to give optimum support to children with very different needs.
These new forms of learning require flexible spaces, furniture that can be versatile and technological support in order to create a diverse and adaptable learning environment.

Sit well at school

You can't do without sitting. Sitting is one of the basic human postures - and an important one at that. We can relax while sitting, but we can also concentrate well and are capable of peak mental performance. An important prerequisite for learning.

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Referenzen

The building of the Felix-Mendelssohn-Bartholdy School in the Pasteurstraße in Berlin-Pankow, which was supplied with school furniture by VS

Existing Buildings

Solutions involving the existing building are required for older school buildings. There are many examples at home and abroad of how this can be done. The medium of choice is moveable furniture that enables multi-functional use of the rooms.

A view upwards in the stairwell of the Gotthard Müller School in Filderstadt.

Newbuilds

If a school is being newly built, extended or thoroughly renovated, architectural solutions can provide the new space required. Important: everyone involved should be included in the planning from the outset.

We Support You

For 125 years, we at VS have been thinking about how school rooms should be designed so that they comprehensively meet the needs of young people. Then as now we were pioneers in the development of room concepts, furniture and furniture systems that enable holistic learning.
All-day offerings are a great responsibility to the next generation - and a challenge for every single school. That’s why we support you with our experienced team of consultants from start to finish, in conception and implementation. Get in touch with us!