Two Class Intake

[Guest]

We are quite a large primary school and have two classes per year group. We have very uninspiring class 'names' at the moment RM and RE. The children in our classes are also called 'Reception' 'Foundation Stage' and 'FS' by various different members of staff - it is all very confusing. We also have a reception area next to the school office and this has caused lots of mix up even with the older children - sometimes arriving in our classroom with a message for the secretary.

 

So we are trying to think about two 'equal' names we could call each Reception Class - and I was wondering whether all you fantastic people out there have any brilliant ideas????????????

[Guest]

We had the same issues, tried a few variations which caused even more confusion and ended up going back to school formula of year number and staff initial ie RAB.Sorry not to be more helpful.We tried red base/blue base even labled fonts accordingly in the shared cloakroom.One 'experienced' staff member wanted two brands of sweets! .We tried animals names but there were always references to animal characteristic we didn't like.There was also rivalary for want of a better word between the 2 classes over the names.We came to the conclusion the formula was inpersonal for the children, parents understood the formula and therefore which staff member was associated with a class.We just live with the confusion I'm afraid although we do now call THE reception 'the office' and the main entrance 'the foyer'.

[Shiny]

We call our Foundation stage 'Early Years'. I think naming them would be lovely!!! Can't think of anything exciting though! Sorry.

[Marion]

We always used the formula biccy referred to the Year group and teacher's Initials. You could always ask the children to write down suggestions and pick out the two best.

[Guest]

our whole school has animal names so did not have much choice but i let the children choose which class they wanted to be.

[Guest]

All the classes in my school have cat names with the reception classes being cubs and kittens. Older classes include tiger, lion, leopard, puma, panther and jaguars. the office staff love having names other than the current teachers name as we had a few issues when some teachers left part way through the year- it messed up all the computer systems.

 

I know what you mean about the reception/foundation stage/early years confusion. My class is always being called different things by different people (despite having a cat name!). They didn't get up to leave the hall today when one teacher said 'foundation stage' rather than reception! Most of our policies and bits of paper refer to them as foundation stage though.

[emmajess]

We used to have our Reception and KS1 class named after water birds: penguins, puffins, swans and kingfishers (our school is by the sea and river).

 

KS2 then decided that they wanted class names too - before they were a similar format as mentioned, with class teacher's initials - so now we are all jewels. Reception are rubies, KS1 emeralds, KS2 topaz, sapphires, jets and Y6 are diamonds - not sure that I like one class being the pinnacle of the gemstone world, but other than that I think its quite a good way of referring to our little treasures!

 

Emma

[Jo A]

We had a competition to name our two rooms for the children with a small prize for the winner Sunshine and Rainbow rooms

[Guest]

A parents perspective here.

 

My childrens school has 4 classes - GOLD=YR/Y1/Y2, SILVER=Y2/Y3/Y4, JADE= Y4/Y5 and SCARLETT = Y5/Y6. The mixed ability system may change in September due to intake numbers. It is a very small school with a total of 84 children.

 

I have 3 children in the school (all started last June). I have found that I forget the names of the classes, especially as they changed in September 07 after having spent June & July in different named classes.

 

If asked what class my daughter is in I just say YR, which is 'her' year, or my son in Y6. My middle son is 'aged' Y5, but tends to spend a lot of time experiencing the Y2 class (he has SEN), so if asked what class he is in I say Mrs....(teachers name) class.

 

My children refer to their teachers name to identify their class and rarely use the class names, in fact I don't think my yoiungest even knows she is in GOLD class.

 

bet you wish I hadn't answered now, eh? Confusing isn't it.

 

It would be interesting to see what your children come up with, if asked.

 

Just had a thought, how about breeds of dogs, Labrador, chiwarwar (phonics HAH), poodle, collie, and not forgetitng Scoobydoo

 

Peggy

[Tigger]

We are also Sunshine and Rainbow.

 

Sharon

[Guest]

My son is in Y6 and his class is called "Scorpians" ......it is a small school with only 1 class per year and all the other classes are also insects

Ladybirds, Caterpillars, Dragonflies, Butterflies, Wasps & Spiders

 

As the nursery is also connected to the school we are Bumble Bees

[Guest]

All our classes in our school are named a colour ! Not very exciting but it seems to work pretty well with all staff and most children knowing the names - and works well too with certficates for whole classes .

[Guest]

I brought this up again at school today.We are looking become FS1-am FS1-pm and FS2-A (teacher initial) in september and droppping the R and name reception to be Foundation Stage One and Foundation stage Two so that the Nursery and reception are seen as a unit and not 2 identities. We have been given next weeks staff meeting to explain the changes and introduction of EYFS to the whole school staff.

[catma]

I've been in poppy and daisy, Sun and moon (in two different schools) Reception red and reception green plus numerous other combinations of my initials. One school changed Themes every year, I hated that. One school just numbered the classes so we were class 13 and 14....

[Guest]

The two main playgroups we fed in from are sunshine and rainbow. I think they are great names for early years settings!

[Guest]

Thanks for all these replies! I like Sunshine and Rainbow! Quite equally nice and of same status!!! Good idea to ask the children too!

Thanks to everyone again!

[Guest]

We are a three form entry school and we use the initials from our school name, this goes right through the school so the parents always know their child will be either a K, H or P class and only the year changes (F for foundation, 1, 2, etc...)

[Rufus]

The children decide what they want to call our class. At the moment we are Dinosaurs, however, we have been, crocodiles and lollipops. They love taking ownership of their own name.