Furnishing schools and nurseries: what it includes and how to plan it
Furnishing a nursery or a school is more than buying tables and chairs. Every room, from the playroom and cloakroom to the staff room, has a different routine, different regulations and needs different furniture. In the Czech Republic, children's chairs and tables must comply with Decree No. 160/2024 Coll. and the ČSN EN 1729-1 standard, and work tables must have a matt surface.
In most cases the installation has to fit into the summer holidays. The design and manufacture therefore need to be commissioned several months in advance.
Below you will find an overview of furniture room by room, the applicable requirements, suitable materials and the order process, including small-scale public contracts.
Osnice nursery school, completed by Vanprodukt
What a nursery school needs
Children spend the whole day in a nursery in several rooms, and each has its own requirements. Children aged 3–6 differ in height by about 20 cm. A mixed-age class therefore needs tables and chairs in more than one size.
| Room | Typical furniture | What to keep in mind |
|---|---|---|
| Cloakroom | benches, hooks, compartments for shoes and spare clothes, labelled boxes | Each child's belongings must be stored separately from the others (Section 5 of Decree 160/2024 Coll.). |
| Classroom and playroom | tables and chairs to ČSN EN 1729-1, open shelves for toys, furniture for activity corners (art, reading, play kitchen) | Toys and teaching aids within children's reach, matt table tops, free space to move. |
| Bedroom | stretcher beds or beds, cabinets for stretcher beds and bedding | Stretcher beds with firm back support and insulation against cold, free passage between them, ventilated and separate storage of labelled bedding (Section 4(1)). |
| Washroom | towel hooks with symbols, shelves, cabinets | Clean towels and linen in closable cabinets or on shelves in covers (Section 21(2)), washable surfaces resistant to moisture. |
| Dining room or serving area | tables and chairs, serving counter, kitchen unit | Often shared with the classroom, so stackable or easily movable pieces. |
| Staff facilities | office, staff room, kitchenette, storage for teaching aids | Adult dimensions, lockable cabinets for documents. |
Cloakroom at the Osnice nursery: bench with shoe compartments and a shelf with hooks
Built-in cabinets for stretcher beds with ventilation openings often prove their worth in practice. The beds are stored in a few minutes, so the playroom quickly turns into a bedroom and back. A storage wall that combines closed cabinets, open shelves and a play kitchen in one unit saves space in the same way.
Stašov nursery school: storage wall with a play kitchen
What primary and secondary schools need
A school has more rooms, and teenage pupils differ in height more than nursery children. The furniture must also cope with frequent moving when the classroom layout changes.
| Room | Typical furniture | What to keep in mind |
|---|---|---|
| Home classroom | pupils' desks and chairs, teacher's desk, cabinets for teaching aids, shelves for textbooks | At least 2 m between the board and the front edge of the first desk (Section 13). Desks with a matt top. |
| Specialist classrooms | laboratory benches, fume cupboards, workshop benches, tables for equipment | Resistance of tops to chemicals, water and heat, routing of cables and services. |
| After-school club | tables for crafts, open shelves for games, relaxation zone | Dividing the space into zones, often shared with the home classroom. |
| Cloakrooms | lockers, benches, shoe racks | Separate storage of each pupil's belongings (Section 5), easy passage, durable doors and locks. |
| Teachers' offices and staff room | work desks, lockable cabinets, shelving for teaching aids, kitchenette | Adult furniture, cabinet depth to suit binders and teaching aids. |
| Library and corridors | shelving, study places, benches, display cabinets | Anchor tall shelving to the wall, do not narrow escape routes. |
| Canteen | tables, chairs, serving and tray counters | Easy-to-clean surfaces, resistance to moisture and frequent washing. |
Choosing furniture for classrooms, after-school clubs and cloakrooms is covered in detail in the article how to choose school furniture for classrooms and cloakrooms.
Which regulations and standards school furniture must meet
Since 1 July 2024, Decree No. 160/2024 Coll. on hygiene requirements for premises and operation of educational facilities has been in force. It replaced the previous Decree No. 410/2005 Coll. For chairs and tables it refers to the ČSN EN 1729-1 standard.
What the decree requires for furniture (Section 13 and Annex 2):
- Seat height equals the lower leg length plus 1–2 cm for the heel. The feet rest flat on the floor.
- Seat depth supports at least 2/3 of the thigh length, the front edge is rounded.
- The backrest supports the lower back and does not reach higher than the lower angle of the shoulder blades.
- The table top is at the height of the elbows of the seated child with arms hanging loosely.
- Tilting top: 10–16° for writing, up to 35° for reading.
- A matt surface on work tables and boards (except boards written on with markers).
- The board at least 2 m from the front edge of the first desk.
- Personal belongings of each child stored separately from the others (Section 5).
The ČSN EN 1729-1 standard divides chairs and tables into size marks according to body height and popliteal height. Each size is marked with a number and a colour, so the teacher can see at a glance whether a child is sitting at the right size. Safety requirements and tests are covered by ČSN EN 1729-2, and ČSN EN 16121 applies to non-domestic storage furniture.
For custom furniture (cabinets, cloakrooms, shelving), the ČSN EN 1729 standard is not decisive. What matters is stability, anchoring, rounded edges and storage heights within children's reach.
Source: full text of Decree No. 160/2024 Coll. (in Czech)
What to make school furniture from
School furniture is opened, moved and washed several times a day. Surface and edge durability and the option to replace only the damaged part are therefore decisive.
| Material | Where it fits | What to watch out for |
|---|---|---|
| Laminated chipboard, usually 18 mm | cabinet carcasses, shelves, cloakroom units | An unbanded edge absorbs moisture. Band all visible edges. |
| HPL laminate and compact HPL | table tops, lockers, washrooms | More expensive than laminated chipboard. Compact HPL withstands water even in wet areas. |
| Lacquered MDF | doors, shaped and rounded parts | Choose a matt lacquer. Edges are more sensitive to impacts. |
| Solid wood and plywood | seats, children's furniture, handrails, panelling | Higher price, needs a quality surface finish. |
| Powder-coated steel | table and chair frames, height-adjustable structures | Check the welds and the strength of joints with the top. |
Exposed places use thicker ABS edges with corners rounded on CNC. At Vanprodukt, edges are banded on an IMA Novimat line and lacquering is done on our own lacquering line, so we can deliver the matt surface required by the decree even on shaped parts.
Not sure which material to choose for your cloakroom or washroom? Send us photos of the space and we will recommend a specific solution. Contact us.
How to plan the fit-out so it is ready after the summer
Installation during term time is noisy and disrupts lessons, so most orders are installed in July and August. To make it in time, preparation starts around the turn of the year.
- January to March: brief and measuring. A list of rooms, the number and age of children, floor plans and photos. Measuring can be done in the afternoon after lessons.
- March and April: design and budget. 3D visualisation, choice of materials and decors, quotation. For a public contract, the tender takes place at this stage.
- May to June: technical preparation and production. The design is converted into CNC data in IMOS and AlphaCAM.
- July and August: installation. After cleaning and any construction work, so that the school is ready on 1 September.
The most common problem does not arise in production but in coordination with construction work. If floors, wiring or plaster are being renewed during the holidays, the furniture installation needs to be scheduled after them and the rooms measured again once the work is finished.
School furniture as a public contract
A school or nursery established by a municipality or region is a contracting authority. Since 3 April 2025, the limit for small-scale public contracts for supplies has been CZK 3 million excluding VAT (Act No. 69/2025 Coll.). Below this limit, no procedure under the Public Procurement Act has to be announced. Even so, the contracting authority must proceed transparently, equally and proportionately and follow the founder's internal guidelines. Funding from a grant may bring stricter rules set by the provider.
To get comparable offers, describe the dimensions, materials, panel thicknesses, edge and hardware types, the ČSN EN 1729-1 requirement and the scope of supply including transport and installation. Otherwise you will be comparing offers that have only the price in common.
School and nursery furniture from Vanprodukt
Vanprodukt has been making furniture since 1992 in its own premises in Pavlov near Pelhřimov. It handles one-off production of bespoke pieces as well as series of dozens of identical cabinets, which is the usual combination for schools.
Among educational facilities, we have furnished:
- the nursery school in Osnice: a cloakroom with a bench and compartments, window seats with storage boxes,
- the nursery school in Stašov: storage walls with a play kitchen and open shelves,
- the nursery school in Častrov: cabinets and open shelves for classrooms,
- the BioPharma Hub of the Faculty of Pharmacy, Masaryk University: a white lecturer's desk for the lecture hall and a green bar with facilities for the canteen,
- offices of Brno University of Technology.
BioPharma Hub lecture hall, Faculty of Pharmacy, Masaryk University
You can find photos among our projects for nursery schools and faculties.
Preparing a nursery or school fit-out for next summer? Send us a floor plan or photos of the rooms, the number of children and the deadline. We will get back to you with a proposed procedure and an indicative price. Write to us.
Frequently asked questions about furnishing schools and nurseries
How many sizes of tables and chairs does one class need?
As many as the ČSN EN 1729-1 size marks needed to cover the heights of the children in the class. Measure the children at the start of the year and assign the size by body height. In mixed-age classes, height-adjustable furniture is an alternative.
Are mattresses on the floor enough instead of stretcher beds in a nursery?
Decree No. 160/2024 Coll. requires stretcher beds or beds with firm back support and insulation against cold. A thin mattress placed directly on a cold floor usually does not meet this requirement.
Is custom furniture more expensive than catalogue furniture?
For ordinary tables and chairs, a catalogue solution is usually cheaper. For cloakrooms, stretcher bed cabinets, teachers' offices and irregular rooms, custom furniture works out better because it uses the whole wall and leaves no gaps. Both approaches are often combined.
Can the furniture be delivered in stages?
Yes. In the first stage, have the decor codes, edge types and hardware recorded. Furniture from later years will then match in appearance and dimensions.
Do you also provide transport and installation?
Yes, we provide transport and installation. We agree the installation date according to the school's schedule.