It’s that time of year again. In infant and primary schools up and down the UK, teachers and helpers are busy rehearsing with the kids. School plays, nativity plays, and Christmas carol concerts, all have to be honed to perfection before doting mums and dads arrive to clap and cheer their little prodigies.

Some parents sit, blissfully happy, preparing to watch their offspring act out the final of weeks of hard work by the children and school staff. Others choose to glance around the room while waiting for the curtain to go up. Noticing the movable wall which now divides the kitchen serving area from what is normally the school canteen, but which, for tonight’s performance, has been designated ‘The Theatre’.

It’s a situation which is repeated in hundreds of schools up and down the country, making as much use of available space for those Christmas concerts and plays as possible. And it’s not just old schools. Today, building companies must meet rigorous government affordability targets when constructing new schools, and refurbishing those schools which are still saveable.

For affordability; read long-term, flexibility, adaptability, versatility and changeability. As in the commercial and industrial building sectors, in education, making maximum use of every square foot of space in the long term is what it’s all about. Architects are omitting the traditional bricks and mortar internal walls, choosing instead to engage companies like AEG Partitions who, since 1994, have been producing bespoke movable walls, capable of reconfiguring a space on an almost daily basis.

With education styles changing, the greater use of digital technology in schools, and the trend of encouraging information sharing and greater group creativity, individual classrooms are going in favour of open spaces, which can quickly and easily be adapted to smaller spaces to suit a particular teaching requirement.

Modern movable and folding walls are a world away from those in use in the schools of the 1950s. Today’s modern dividing systems must be easy to operate, have high levels of soundproofing and meet rigorous building regulations, while being aesthetically pleasing to the eye.

AEG Partitions, supply, install, and maintain a range of high specification movable and folding walls suitable for all applications.

The Teachwall 100:

This system checks all the boxes when it comes to the stringent requirements of the government’s legislation BB93 on sound insulation in schools. Regularly chosen as the system of choice by school architects, it has a sound insulation range of 37-58 decibels.

Operated on a purpose built, self-supporting steel framework, and available up to 15 metres high, its scissor-jack mechanism provides a rigid, safe, and easy to operate partitioning system of high acoustic rating.

The Teachwall 800:

The Teachwall 800 system is ideal for installation in pre-schools, infant schools, church and village halls, right up to modern, trendy, open-plan offices. In fact, anywhere a cost-effective, good looking, easily operated dividing system is required. The 800 is a concertina folding fabric system, which is available with acoustic ratings of 15, 24, and 35 decibels.

With a large colour range to suit all applications, this versatile system can be used to enclose small cubicles, work areas, or divide rooms, it can be opened and closed in a matter of seconds, and provides everything that is required of a high-quality temporary room divider.

The Teachwall 200:

An attractive, highly versatile sliding partition system, the 200 can be quickly installed on site, often within one day, with little inconvenience to the client. With its large range of finishes, and high level of acoustic insulation, 35-52 decibels, it is a favourite system of both architects and teachers alike, and one that can blend effortlessly with almost any school or office decoration.

With an increasing population, more children going to school and less schools to put them in, adaptability is the name of the game. The flexibility of movable walls allows school staff to change gyms to conference centres and assembly rooms to smaller classrooms. When Christmas comes around, they can even turn school canteens into theatres.