19 replies to this topic

[suzygudgeon]

We are going through loads of changes at school at the moment. firstly we are going to a house system and we need to come up with names of four houses. They have to start with different letters. Any ideas? The school is called Neville Lovett named after the local Bishop.
We also have to name our classrooms. I have two history classrooms and just can not think of anything that is suitable.
Any ideas?

[sarahn]

classrooms - something to do with local history? local national trust type houses? or a local historical figure?

our houses here are named after the homes of the first headmistress and her last name, you could use the surnames of the first heads?

is it a girls' school? - famous feminists?,
science college - famous scientists?
etc

Can you ask the students? or is it top secret?

what a great opportunity!

Best of luck!
Sarah

Edited by sarahn, 13 May 2008 - 02:02 PM.

[Elliott]

Perhaps York, Windsor, Lancaster or Warwick, Leicester etc

[suzygudgeon]

The House names are open to a competiton. Being near Portsmouth lots of people have put in ship names, ports etc, We have also come up with birds, trees, rivers etc. We are a maths and computing college so we have also put down famous scientists and mathameticians.
My main problem is the classroom names. They have to be something that is suitable and won't entail any jokes. Someone suggested the Pankhurst room but far too many jokes ensured in the staffroom!
I was thinking along the lines of Castleguard, but all ideas will be greatly appreciated!

[Giles Falconer]

Why not hold a competition amongst your pupils - 'choose a name for the room' - which must be linked to History - and argue why it should be chosen...could be a type of balloon debate? Hold the finals in assembly perhaps - a good way to raise the subject's profile! The winner would have the honour of naming the room (& possibly having a notice with their name displayed in the room!)

[Steve Wales]

Just a funny story - our SMT were soooo close to naming classes after the planets until someone (a pupil who had heard about the plans) asked a senior member of staff "can I be in Uranus?" Absolutely true

[pennyh.]

Portsmouth and Salisbury would seem to be two house names since your guy was bishop of these places. Are you allowed 'famous' year dates for classrooms sometimes numbers last longer and annoy less

[suzygudgeon]

We've put forward Bisop's names but I think the new management is trying to break away from the historical name etc. The new logo has lost the bishop's hat completely. The rooms are already numbered and will stay numbered but also needa name. I like the idea of opening up to students but as always will need to run this past SMT.

[JohnDClare]

House names
No contest: Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, and Slytherin.

Classroom names
Name them after famous historians (more here, but very American) - what about Thucydides, Bede, Carlyle, Macaulay, AJP Taylor, Hobsbawn?

If you go for historical characters, you must surely choose contrasting characters for the two rooms: Hitler and Churchill, Napoleon and Wellington, Philip II and Elizabeth I, Henry VIII and Francis I, Charles I and Cromwell, Abbott and Costello, Morecamble and Wise etc.


Even more fun would be choosing names for other subjects' rooms. What about:
Food Technology: 'Sugar', 'Spice' and 'All things nice'?
RE: 'Hellfire' and 'Damnation'
ICT: 'Out of order' and 'Technical difficulties'
PE: 'Playschool'
Home Economics: 'Flopsy', 'Mopsy' and 'Cottontail'
First Aid: 'Drama studio'
Counselling rooms: 'Restroom' and 'Get out of Jail Free'
Geography: 'Art room'
Art: 'Rubbish dump'

[Joel Thorpe]

Famous Chartists would be a good idea or the Tolpuddle martyrs.

[Chouan]

Geography could be Colouring In
I'd have, for History, Gironde and Montagne, or perhaps Danton and Robespierre.

[JohnDClare]

Call one room: 'The Past', because then pupils - when their friends say: 'Where are you next?', will have to reply: 'I'm off to The Past'.
Then you can call the other: 'The Past 2', partly, because their friends will then have to say: 'Oh, I'm going to The Past 2', but mainly because we all know that history repeats itself.

[JohnDClare]

GOT IT!

Name them after the two famous historical ships:
James Cook's Endeavour, and
Ernest Shakleton's Endurance.
(if you wanted to go all-Cook, his other two ships were Discovery and Resolution)

I LOVE the idea of your History lessons as being journeys of exploration into the unknown.
'The past is another country; they do things differently there'.

And the names of the ships are so appropriate to the way you want the students to approach their lessons.

Ready images to stick on the doors, and exciting tales of hardship and triumph to regale to each new class.



Of course, you'll have to ignore the lessonswhen Titanic and Lusitania would be more approrpiate names!

[JohnDClare]

Maths have GOT to call their four rooms: 'Addiups', 'Takeaways', Timeses' and 'Guzinders'.

[Chouan]

How about Indefatigable and Invincible? Only don't tell them why, because of the irony.
Or for more honourable reasons, Beaverford and Jervis Bay.

Edited by Chouan, 15 May 2008 - 08:52 AM.