For many schools, overcrowded dining halls have been an issue for a number of years. A lot of schools struggle to accommodate pupils at lunchtime due to a lack of space and ever-growing class sizes.
Here at A&S Landscape, we believe that having an outdoor dining space is extremely beneficial for both teachers and students. That’s why we have an extensive selection of outdoor dining canopies for you to choose from.
In this article, we will take a look at outdoor dining rooms and show you how they can help to combat these problems. We even include a real-life case study, showing you how one school helped to get rid of those long lunchtime queues!
If you work in a school and are looking for a great way to update your outdoor area, you can check out our range of school canopies right here.
The Problems Caused by a Crowded School Canteen
Before we showcase some of our own senior school canopies and dining areas, it is beneficial to learn about some of the issues surrounding a crowded school canteen.
A crowded dining area can lead to students having nowhere to sit, an increase in safety hazards, and can also encourage students to skip their lunchtime meal. Let’s have a look at these in a bit more detail.
Students with Nowhere to Sit
It is extremely important for the health and wellbeing of pupils that they have somewhere to sit and eat a healthy meal during their lunch hour. With many schools struggling to accommodate their pupils during this hour, they are denied this space and time.
With nowhere to sit, this can lead to students eating their lunch standing up, which can lead to discomfort from bloating, cramps, and gas. It could also encourage pupils to eat their lunch in unsuitable areas, such as classrooms or outdoors, leading to littering.
Safety Hazards
As well as having nowhere to eat their meals, there are also numerous safety hazards that come with overcrowded dining areas.
If there are too many people in one area, this can lead to collisions between pupils and staff members, resulting in injuries. This is often caused when there is a lack of staggering in the dining area, or if there aren’t appropriate queueing systems in place.
You are also exposing pupils to more slips, trips, or falls. With more students in one crowded dining area, this could increase the risk of food spillages and slips on wet floors.
Students Skipping Meals
Having overcrowded canteens means that you’re increasing queue times, which significantly impacts how quickly pupils can get their hands on meals.
Long dining hall queues ultimately can lead to pupils choosing between grabbing a bite to eat and making it to class on time, with many choosing to skip meals altogether in order to gain their time back.
Skipping meals can lead to extremely negative health impacts. Without a proper meal at lunchtime, pupils are going from early in the morning until after school without a heartfelt snack. Skipping meals can also go as far as affecting academic performance.
Outdoor Dining Rooms Could Be the Solution!
So, what is the solution to overcrowded lunch halls? An outdoor dining canopy!
Luckily for you, A&S Landscape has a whole range of outdoor dining options suitable for your pupils and staff’s needs. As mentioned above, an outdoor dining room can combat many problems that schools face.
Having an outdoor dining area also means that your pupils can embrace fresh air while eating their lunch. Taking them away from the noise and chaos of an indoor dining hall can boost their mood and benefit their well-being, especially if it’s a lovely sunny day.
Let’s have a look at some of our best-selling and most popular outdoor dining rooms on offer.
Tremendous Tepees
Our Maxima Tepee™ is a great idea for an outdoor dining room area. Available in standard modular sizes, these colourful units are manufactured in galvanised and PPC steel, and are waterproof and UV resistant.
This makes them great for pupils to eat their lunch in, as they are protected against all weathers. Our tepees are made with a clever integral gutter system, meaning that downpours are no problem!
There is also the option to add side panels for extra protection, enhancing their practicality.
Duo the Fun
If you’re looking for an outdoor dining area with a curved design, then look no further than our Motiva Duo™. This canopy is our duo-pitch (symmetric) curved roof variant.
Both sides are at the same height, making it the most common configuration for standalone structures against low roofline buildings. Covering widths of up to 6000mm, our duo canopy is ideal for outdoor dining.
Stunning Shade Sails
One of the best things about our shade sails is that they reduce exposure to harmful UV rays, while also, in contrast, acting as a shelter for bad weather. With this style, students can enjoy their lunch outdoors no matter what the weather!
Our Maxima range of fabric shade structures comes in an array of shapes and sizes and are bold, bright, and colourful, making them perfect for schools and students.
Mighty Monopitch
One of our most popular styles for outdoor dining rooms are our Motiva Mono™. This is our mono-pitch curved roof variant, where one side is higher than the other.
Widths of 10000mm are easily achievable, with the option to cover even more area with additional design features. These canopies act as a simple added part to any building, making lunchtimes outside easily accessible.
How an Outdoor Dining Canopy Helped One Crowded School
Blackfen School for Girls in Sidcup, Kent, installed an enclosed dining canopy so that all staff and students can eat outdoors no matter the weather!
They wanted an outdoor shelter which could create a fully-fledged outdoor facility, practical enough to act as a dining area without being affected by bad weather. The school wanted it to be a substantial size and were looking for a model with an enclosed design to keep out any wind and rain to make it useable all year round.
Read the full case study here!
Want to Upgrade Your School’s Dining Room? Get in Touch With the Experts!
Hopefully, you now understand the importance of having a dining room that can accommodate all pupils. You don’t have to worry about cramming everyone into one room, you can simply add an outdoor dining area like many of our other happy clients.
Please don’t hesitate to get in touch with our expert team, or send us your enquiry today! It’s our simple, honest, on-time, quality service that builds our ever-growing list of satisfied clients. We’d be glad to include you.
