Malton Primary Testing EIGER Junior Standing Desks
Children at Malton Primary School will now be able to stand during their lessons with the launch of the world’s first education retrofit standing desk. UK enterprise (I Want A Standing Desk) has created the new EIGER Junior retrofit solution designed to turn any child’s sitting desk into a standing desk in seconds and allow a student to work actively therefore improving both their health and cognitive performance.
The creation of the children’s desk comes as childhood obesity rates continue to cause concern with one and five school children in England now classified as obese according to the Government’s National Childhood Measurement Programme for Children.
Nick White, founder of I Want A Standing Desk, said: “We know obesity rates in children are a major concern. We are creating a generation of habitual sitters because of classrooms, computers, TV and technology. We believe the retrofit desk for children can help with this. Studies in the UK and USA have shown a tremendous benefit to classrooms where they have been installed. They have improved activity levels, cognitive behaviour and results.
“Obviously we aren’t asking children to stand up all day but just to be more active and engaged in their learning.”
I Want a Standing Desk has already launched a retrofit desk for adults which has helped users to improve their health and wellbeing. According Professor John Buckley of the University of Chester, using a standing desk for three hours a day over a working year, the user would burn more calories than they would completing 10 marathons.
Loughborough and Leeds Beckett Universities have already confirmed they want to work with Nick and his EIGER Junior standing desks in studies all over the UK.
Richard Allman, Leader for PE and Sports Development at Malton Primary said “We were shocked when Nick told us the long term negatives of sedentary behaviour and the impact classrooms have in this. We also were really interested as to the immediate benefits of improved cognitive behaviour and concentration for our children.”
Nick White said “We’re delighted we have Malton Primary School trialling our EIGER Junior standing desks. It’s a superb forward thinking school that is showcasing to the rest of the UK active learning in classrooms and the benefits.”