14 DAY TRIAL // In recent years, several studies have rung the alarm on the ill effects of excessive sitting, so the popularity of standing or stand-up desks has soared. Now, a school in Britain has decided to take a stand against childhood obesity and idleness by offering its pupils the first standing classroom in Europe.
Fifty-five pupils aged nine to ten at Grove House Primary School in Bradford, West Yorkshire, are taking part in a pilot program called “Stand Out in Class” and designed to track their progress as they try to stand more in class. The aim of the pilot is to improve pupils' health and performance in class.
Six special sit-to-stand desks were introduced in a Year 5 classroom, and, during the course of seven weeks, pupils will take turns to stand behind them, while the others will sit down as usual. Daily Mail explains that each student participating in the trial will spend around 230 minutes standing each week.
Researchers are trying to evaluate the impact of the desks on pupils’ sedentary behavior, their concentration, as well as their health and performance.
The standing-learning experiment is conducted by Born in Bradford, one of the biggest and most important medical research studies in UK, in collaboration with researchers from Loughborough University.
In an article published on the university's website, lead researcher Dr. Stacy Clemes from Loughborough’s School of Sport, Exercise and Health Sciences (SSEHS) stated:
“Childhood obesity is on the rise in Britain, and we know much of this is linked to the large amounts of time our children spend sitting or inactive. But if we can encourage children to stand more in class, which may have learning as well as health benefits, we can change behaviours which we hope will continue into adulthood.”
The idea of using standing desks in schools is not exactly new, as schools in Australia, New Zealand and US have already implemented the innovative desks, but Grove House Primary School is believed to be the first in Europe to try them.
Both pupils and teachers seem to be excited about the trial, and claim that standing in class has kept them focused.
“The pupils have been so excited to take part in this experiment, and they absolutely love it,” teacher Hannah Rogers said. “We’ve only been doing it two weeks in my class and already I can see an improvement. I’ve got a very active class and I think they’re really responding to having more freedom.”