Types Of Protective Screens For Schools & Education:
Coronavirus has presented the whole of society with enormous
challenges, not least how to safely resume operating our educational facilities
including schools, colleges and universities. Social distancing screens are a
flexible option to help educational establishments continue functioning in a
safe environment by introducing transparent barriers between pupils, students,
and staff, thereby minimising the transmission of airborne bacteria. Protective
screens for education are available in a variety of materials, the most common
being clear cast acrylic (or branded names Perspex or Plexiglass), or clear toughened
glass. Screens can be desk-mounted, clamp-fixed, fitted as toppers to existing
partition screens, freestanding, or floorstanding.
Clamp-Fixed Screens:
These protective desk screens are fixed to desks or tables by C-Clamps (or
sometimes referred to as G-Clamps). The C-Clamp sits over the edge of the desks
at the back or side and is tightened by either a screwdriver, allen key, or can
be finger-tightened, depending on the design. Clamp-fixed screens can fit to
school classroom tables, university lecture room desking, or other laboratory
or computer desks. Different sizes of clamps will accommodate different desk
thicknesses and we recommend checking your desk thickness before ordering the
relevant clamps.
Desk-Mounted Screens:
Protective screens with clamps (as described above) could also be described as
desk-mounted screens as they mount to the edge of the desktop. However screens
that run directly on top of the desktop might more accurately be described as
desk-mounted screens. These screens run from front to back of a desktop thereby
creating side partitions for the user, and the screens are fitted to the
desktop itself, not just the desk edge. One of our ranges achieves this by
using a C-clamp at the front and a surface mounted clamp at the back which is
fixed the desktop by a strong adhesive pad. These protective screens are ideal
for bench desks, ICT desking, and other educational desking where users sit
side-by-side on runs of desks.
Topper Extension Screens:
Many desks are already fitted with desk dividers, normally
fabric finished, and rather than replacing these screens with taller protection
screens, clear acrylic topper extension screens can be added to existing desk
partitions. These screen toppers are easily clamped on top of the existing
screens and create a see through barrier above the height of the existing
screen. We recommend choosing the correct clamp size to fit over your existing
screen as existing screens can come in a variety of thicknesses. These screens are ideal for school ICT desking where existing partition screens are already in place.
Freestanding Screens:
Many areas within schools and colleges have taken up the use of freestanding Perspex
protection screens in a number of areas including receptions, counter-tops, worktops and also desks. The advantage of
freestanding screens is that they are immediately moveable and can be
repositioned easily. Freestanding desk screens are not normally manufactured higher than
80cm height as the feet required to keep the screen upright would need to be
too large, and wouldn’t sit on a desktop without taking up too much space.
Nevertheless freestanding protective plastic screens are often the best solution
for a number of areas within schools, universities, and other educational workplaces.
Floorstanding Screens:
Social distancing guidelines recommend that people are separated by a distance
of 2 metres, and in busy environments such as schools this is not always
possible. However transparent floorstanding acrylic screens have been adopted
by many educational organisations for separating and filtering the movement of pupils in a variety of areas
such as classrooms, dining halls, corridors, and assembly rooms. Protective floorstanding
screens provide an extra partition between students, helping to limit the bacterial
transmission whilst maintaining vision. These protective screens stand upright
on feet or wheels and can come as large screens up to 3 metres in length.
Cut-To-Size Protective Screens:
Whilst many desks are a standard size, often user’s requirements are
non-standard and acrylic protection barriers may need to be made to size for
your classroom tables, lecture hall desks, or ICT school desking. The majority of our protective
screen products can be made to the size of your requirement and this normally
does not affect the lead times. For example, bespoke 1575mm wide desk screens can
easily be made if required – we would normally charge the cost of 1600mm wide (standard size) for this – and this would not increase the delivery lead time.
If you have any special requirements for screens please email or call, and one
of our team will get back to you.
Whilst the UK navigates through the Covid pandemic, schools
and other educational facilities will need to bring in the relevant safety measures
to continue functioning effectively, and protection screens are likely to play
a part in those measures.
If you have any questions regarding any of the screen products
we supply, please enquire.