It’s true, first impressions count and what better way to make the best impression than with an entrance canopy. Find out what design, colour or material options are available for your school canopy.
School entrance canopies can instantly improve the look of your school building. They can make your entrance ways more inviting and eye-catching. But they are also versatile and practical structures that can provide comfort to your students, staff and visitors.
The only question you will have is, what are the options you can choose from and are there any limitations to installing an entrance canopy?
Keep on reading to find out the answers to these questions.
What Is A School Entrance Canopy?
A school entrance canopy will highlight and guide visitors to the main entrance of your school while providing shelter from the elements.
In contrast, school door canopies can provide shelter to any door or a combination of doors around the school.
What Are The Benefits Of School Entrance Canopies?
School entrance canopies offer many benefits for schools. Some of which are surprisingly advantageous, you will find that they:
- Protect students and visitors from harmful UV rays
- Bring additional outdoor play opportunities
- Cool down classrooms during the summer months
- Signify entrances and designated waiting areas
- Improve the look of the school
- Can extend classrooms
What’s The Difference Between A School Door Canopy And A School Entrance Canopy?
There is no significant difference when it comes to the design options for a school door canopy and a school entrance canopy. You can install the same structures for both.
However, school entrance canopies are often brightly coloured to highlight the main entrance. Some may have the school logo printed on the top of the canopy, while others will have the logo written on the school building near to, or on the wall underneath, the canopy.
In most situations, the school entrance canopy colour will match or complement the school logo, to create a striking visual effect.
School door canopies on the other hand don’t need to be so visually impactful, unless that’s your preference, and are often larger than the school entrance canopies to utilise space.
What Are The Best School Door Canopy Design Options?
Like anything, the design you choose for your school canopy depends on your specific needs and preferences. In some situations, you might consider adding a school door canopy that doubles up as an extended classroom, sheltered outdoor play area, covered walkway or storage area. But of course, those options are limited to the layout of your school, classrooms and doors.
Main Entrance Canopies
Some door entrance canopies offer a small amount of shelter just over the doorway. These types of shelters are commonly placed at the main entrance of the door, accompanied by the school’s name. The primary purpose of this type of shelter is to highlight where the main entrance is and offer light shelter to visitors as they stop to open the door or to be let in.
General School Entrance Canopies
In a world that is adjusting to social distancing rules a larger door entrance canopy, like the types of school door canopies you might add to other door entrances around your school, can be very helpful.
Larger canopies are a better option for main entrance canopies for social distancing purposes. They provide more protection from the sun, rain and wind. They can also provide enough space and comfort to the visitors to your school if you need to ask them to wait outside when social distancing.
These school doorway canopies are often steel or aluminium frame structures with polycarbonate or UV resistant fabric roofs, and they can be practically any size you want. Some school entrance canopies only have a roof covering, but you can infill one or more sides to create additional levels of shelter from the elements.
Depending on the layout of your school, you can add door canopies outside your classroom doors that double up as an extension to your classrooms, walkways or storage areas. The beauty of this type of door canopy is that it will also cool your classrooms in the summer.
Do Entrance Canopies For Schools Have A Colour Range To Choose From?
You will usually have a selection of colours to choose from for your school entrance canopy, but they may differ from supplier to supplier. Most often you will find that you can choose from a selection of colours for the frames and roofs. The most common colours you will find are:
- Red
- Blue
- White
- Yellow
- Gray
- Black
- Green
Which Are The Best Materials To Choose For A School Entrance Canopy?
The best materials to choose for your school entrance canopy are:
- Steel, aluminium or wooden frames
- Polycarbonate or fabric roofs
What Other Design Considerations Should I Make When Choosing A School Entrance Canopy?
The best thing you can do when selecting a school entrance canopy is to think about how you might be able to maximise the way that you can use it so that you can get the best value and utilise the most space.
For example, you might consider how you can maximise the potential for managing social distancing for your visitors. Or you may find alternative uses for a school entrance canopy that can fully utilise the space in your school, like creating a school entrance canopy that also doubles up as a covered walkway.
Most school entrance canopies are lean-to structures meaning that they’re attached to a wall – usually over the doorways. But there are two main limitations with a lean-to structure:
- You will need permission from the building owner to attach a lean-to structure.
- The wall you are attaching to needs to be strong enough to hold the structure.
I Know What Kind Of School Entrance Canopy I Want, What’s Next?
Whether you have an idea of what type of school entrance canopy you want, or not, the best thing you should do, if you’re serious about installing one is to bring in the professionals.
They can give you design advice, help you to make the right choices to meet your needs and talk you through your next steps, which will usually involve a site visit from the canopy manufacturer to assess your premises and the scope of work.
Summary
School entrance canopies and school door canopies are very similar, but both have slightly different purposes. One highlights the main entrance and provides comfort for visitors, and the other offers comfort for staff and students throughout the day and can utilise the space in your school.
There are a wide variety of good looking canopies in various designs that can enhance the look of your school and turn into a convenient resource for your school.