Have your children outgrown the family car during the summer school holidays?

Did you know the average school-child grows at a rate of six centimetres a year?

And at their peak growth rate, kids can grow a whopping 16 centimetres in one year… with growth spurts of up to half a centimetre in a single night.

That means that some students will be hopping into the family car to return to school two centimetres taller than when they started their summer break.

One scientific study showed students grow even faster than normal during their summer holidays, because they’re less stressed.

Ford has turned these facts into a sales opportunity for the all-new Ford Focus which now offers more room for growing kids as they head back to school. There’s an extra 5 centimetres of knee room and passengers in the rear also get an additional 6 centimetres of shoulder room, plus a flatter floor beneath the centre seat makes it more comfortable to sit in – helping reduce squabbles over who goes in the middle.

“We didn’t settle for just making the rear of our all-new Focus more spacious – we also wanted it to feel more open and roomy for passengers big and small,” said Glen Goold, Ford Focus chief programme engineer. “The side windows now stretch further rearwards so that passengers have an unrestricted view out, and the available panorama roof floods the interior with light for an airy feel.”

The all-new Ford Focus delivers more space, style and advanced driving technologies for mid-size family car customers than ever before – introducing features that can help drivers make light work of stop-start traffic; see more clearly when driving in the dark; park simply by holding down a button; and avoid accidents.

New FordPass Connect onboard modem technology for the Focus even turns the vehicle into a mobile WiFi hotspot with connectivity for up to 10 devices.

The stylish Focus Titanium, sporty Focus ST-Line and upscale Focus Vignale five-door and wagon models are available to order across Europe now, with the all-new Focus Active crossover models – inspired by sports-utility vehicles – arriving later this year.